Convergence
by Caelan
Summary: Liz doesn't make it to the granolith express before the podsters leave. Eight years later she runs back into Max while working for the CDC in Mexico.
1. Nil

Convergence

Summary: The podsters leave for Antar in Departure before Liz can get to them or figure out that the gerbil killed Alex. Eight years later Liz works for the Center for Disease Control. What happens when she runs into her dark haired mystery man in Mexico? Hmmm...Confrontations, longing stares, passionate embraces, viruses and a special appearance made by my favorite bad guy Khivar. And Liz puts the beat down on a certain blonde we all love to hate. 

Rating: PG 13 

Coupling: M / L and maybe some M/M if I can find my inner candy 

Quotes: Destiny, Departure, and the End of the World 

_Prologue_

He's gone.

It's only been two days, but in reality his being left me a long time ago. Piece by piece he withdrew himself from me. First his love disappeared and then his friendship, and now, there's nothing holding us together but that was the plan after all. 

 I unwind myself from my red sheets and drop them on the floor. Pooling at my feet, it's almost looks like I'm bleeding to death, but maybe I am. 

_Just tell me one thing do you love her? _

_Not like I love you. _

What does that mean exactly? He was coming for me but got sidelined at a rest stop. I wonder where they did it. Was it at some nice hotel or in his room? Did he screw her hard and fast? No, I shake my head. He never does anything rough and unfeeling. Slowly, he must have run his fingers down her. A wave of green light trailed in their wake while his lips glided down the base of her throat. And then, every so carefully, his hands crept underneath her shirt and....

Stop.

traced the delicate line of her spine.

You're going to drive yourself insane. 

_Not like I love you. _

Picking up the whirl wind pendant, I hurl it across the room. It clanks loudly against the wall before falling to the floor. 

A genetic imperative didn't drive him to this. It wasn't just some mindless act. I choke on my sob. He made love to her. 

Say their names the rational side or maybe it's the masochistic side of my brain orders. 

I can't. I won't. 

And as on cue, another version of him surfaces in my mind.

_"It's what I've always said to you, Liz. We create our own destiny." _

How wonderfully profound of you, after you ordered me to destroy mine and Alex's. Bile rises in my throat. "Alex," I sob. 

 Roughly, I wipe away the tears. Climbing through my window, I look up at that stars, but they've lost their luster. 

_"Can you just do that with everyone. Make them see things that aren't even there?_

_"Sometimes it's easier to do that than to make someone see something that's right in front of her eyes. _

It's official. I've lost it. I'm hearing Tess. "I hope you're happy Tess, because I'm finally seen what's in front of my eyes."   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know what tomorrow is?" Maria asks softly. 

I take a sip of my Coke. Of course, I know what tomorrow is. Tomorrow will be forever engrained on my mind, but it doesn't mean I want to talk about it, "May 15." 

I motion to the waitress. "Could I have a Long Island Ice Tea?" A man coughs behind me. He's definitely in the first stages of a Streptococcus infection. Brian's right I am way too focused on my job. 

"Liz." 

"It's been eight years. There either dead or they've made quite a nice life for themselves on Antar. Either way, I don't care." 

Maria flinches at my tone.

"I," I soften my voice, "really don't see why we should even discuss them." 

"If you were over him, I wouldn't bring it up."

"I am over him, you know that." With my straw, I stir my Coke into a mini brown tornado. 

"Then say his name." 

Oh, she's really playing dirty now. She knows I haven't said his name since he left. A little wall I've constructed that I'm not ripping down for her or anyone else. "Are you really over Michael?"

This time it's her turn to play with her drink. "Sometimes I feel him. It's like he's right in the room with me. It proves he isn't dead right? Do you ever feel Max?"

"No," I increase the intensity of my Coke storm, "but we never made love. It probably bound you two tighter together." 

She reaches over and stops my hand. "Max did love you Liz. I'm sure of it. I used to be jealous of the sheer intensity. You were like this cosmic yin and yang, arm and hammer, pork and beans, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman," she waves her hands dramatically as she launches into one of her famous Maria monologues. 

I smile and don't tell her that Tom and Nicole have been divorced for years because somewhere along the way we became her model of perfection, because Spaceboy could never live up to my intergalactic Romeo. She once told me that they were like a hamburger and a fillet mignon. I like to think she saw the true Michael before he left."  

She smacks her forehead in frustration, "you're not listening to me." 

"I'm still a little jet lagged," I yawn.  

She abandons Fussy Maria for Mother Maria. Opening her purse, she pulls out a vitamin bottle. "Take this it will help. I don't see why you couldn't get a job working in a lab so you could stop globe trotting."

"I like my job." 

"I saw Outbreak the other day. What if you get infected like Renee?"

"It's a movie, and I'm not going to get infected."

"Do they really burn the bodies on pyres like that?

"They do in the remote villages. In the cities, they use incinerators." The waitress sets my drink down in front of me. 

"I still don't understand why you would want to put yourself in all that chaos." 

"Because I like fixing it. I make a plan. I find the cause and then I restore the balance." 

"Could it be that you enjoy it so much, because you can't restore the balance in your own life?"

I roll my eyes, "not everything goes back to him." Taking a very large gulp, I start sucking on the lemon. 

She puts her hands up in defeat, "no more about Max." She leans into me. "So tell me did you and Brian finally bow to the inevitable and get some crisis sex in while the two of you were running around Africa restoring the balance?"

"Maria, he's my boss, besides, he's been stationed in Central America for the last month." 

"Don't let geography stop the sparkage babe. Please tell me you're secretly seeing each other. It would really make my day. Heck, it would make my year. You guys could have super scientists kids together. I can see it now. They would find the cure for cancer or win the Nobel prize and take care of their Auntie Maria in her old age." 

"Funny." 

"Or I settle for you admitting that Mr. Nordic is somewhat attractive?"

Try drop dead gorgeous. 

"You so want to jump him." 

"And what makes you think I haven't already?"

"I knew something happened in Vietnam," she squeals. 

The beginning notes of I'll Shall Believe start to play from my cell phone. 

"Or it didn't because you still have yours and Max's song on your phone," she grouses. 

"It was our future selves' song. We never had a song." I hit the send button. "Elizabeth Parker. Access Number A236852." 

 "Voice and Code accepted," the clipped computerized voice answers. 

"So little me get this straight you're being nostalgic over something that never happened to you personally? I don't want hear anymore crap from you about me going to psychics." 

I stick my tongue out at her.

"Oh, that's real mature. Who is it?" 

"Shh it's work." 

"Contagion Alert 1. You are booked on El Azeteca Flight Number 232 departing for Mexico City from terminal E Gate 24 at 9:30 in the p.m. Information will be provided in route." 

 I fold up my phone. "Can you take me to the airport tonight?"

"You just got back four days ago," Maria groans. "Wait," a wicked gleam shines in her eyes. "It's Brian isn't it? He's going to get you in the jungle and ravish you." 

"Not with an Alert 1, he isn't," I mumble, but the De Luca eagle ears still pick it up. 

"Alert 1, what is that?  It isn't the highest one is it?" All the color drains from her face. 

"Don't go. I have a bad feeling about this. You'll be there the same day they left for Antar. Cosmically, this is a bad day for us a complete mystical convergence. I can't loose you like the others." 

I reach over and squeeze her hand. "It's going to be fine. I've worked on several Alert 1 contagions. We do it by the book just like with anything else." 

"Do you still have the medallion Max gave you?"

"Yes." I answer slightly thrown by her change in subject. 

"I want you to wear it. It will help protect you from all the negative vibes floating around tomorrow. Better yet, don't take it off until you get back here." 

"Maria." 

She pins me with her eyes.

"Alright." 

"Now, what's that so hard," as a visible look of relief surfaces in her eyes. "What time is the flight?" 

"9:30." 

"We need to get you home and packed. You're going to need some mosquito repellent and definitely a box of condoms." 

I spit out my drink. 

"For when you and Brian fix the crisis," she explains. "Celebration sex isn't as good as crisis sex or makeup sex or even reunion sex, but at least it's something." 

"Sex is not a cure all."

"Well I definitely think it could cure all you ills. Put some color back into your cheeks. I just want you to be happy and don't tell me you are. Now drink your drink and don't argue with Doctor Maria." 


	2. Visitation

Parker Evanss~ I just wanted to thank you so much for the reviews that you left for Come Undone and Surfacing. I was having a very bad day when I read them, and they just turned it around. Thank you so much. 

I'm glad you like Maria and Liz in Convergence. I was going for a toned down Sex and the City. As for Max, I don't think I ever got over the whole tex thing, but I'm going to try and redeem him a bit here hopefully. And Alex, well I'm sort of working on a way to resurrect him, but I can't tell that would ruin the surprise. Brian, I love. I actually wish I could write a Brian and Liz love scene but then it would be UC. 

I'm glad that you liked Come Undone. The story I wanted to tell was just too sweeping, and my ability wasn't up to par so I took the whole oracle thing and end of the world thing and made two stories out of it. You were right it was kind of getting me down because it has to end with Max and Liz unmaking their reality so that was a little depressing. Then Ben was going to get kidnapped by Tess and she was going to raise him so it sort of turned into this whole melodrama thing, but maybe I'll go back to it someday. 

Julieanna~ I wish had A.D.D sometimes, but I'm afraid I don't . I just like to procrastinate. I am working on a new chapter for Surfacing, but I 've been feeling really snarky lately and that doesn't really go well with angst. 

Chaosti~ Son will be making an appearance because the angst potential for that is just something I can't pass up. 

Sparkle glow~ There will be a happy ending but it's going to be a realistic. I always hate the overly too good to be true endings. As for the candy love, I really want to put it end sort of make Michael and Maria the dream couple in comparison to Max and Liz's dysfunction but first I have to get Maria down to Mexico. 

Sweet Like Chocolate and anonymous ~ thanks so much for your reviews. 

This might be a little weird but when Liz is speaking with the old woman she's speaking Spanish even though it's written in English. I know it's odd.   
  
Quotes: End of the World, and Departure   
Lyrics: Madonna's The Power of Goodbye   
  
Chapter 2: Visitation   
  
I make my way down the very narrow airplane aisles trying not to smack anyone with my backpack. Stopping momentarily, I readjust the sack whose increased weight tells me that Maria went a little overboard with her additions. Just over my seat an older woman struggles to fit her suitcase into the compartment.   
  
"Do you need some help?"   
  
No response.   
  
I repeat the question in Spanish.   
  
"I can't make it fit."   
  
"You have to flip it, like this."   
  
"Gracias hija," she slides into the seat next to mine.   
  
I'm just about to put my own luggage into the compartment when a dark haired boy runs by me. Charging into the nearby seat, he looks out the window at the ground crew. "I've never been on a plane before. Isn't it cool?"   
  
I don't answer, because all I can think of is that their son would be the same age. Picturing him in my head, I can see the dark eyes and hair he would inherit from his father while his mother's genes would code for curl. His small body houses their DNA in an everlasting union. Trickling down into successive generations, their bond will be forever while ours is just a memory.   
  
I pull at the cold pendant around my neck wanting nothing more to rip it off, but my promise to Maria prevents me. My angry hands tuck it under my shirt instead.   
  
"Are you ok lady?" the boy asks as his mother drags him away.   
  
"You have the look hija," the older woman comments over the seat.   
  
"What look?"   
  
"The look of a woman who longs to be a mother."   
  
I shove my backpack into the compartment and slam the door a little harder than I intended. "I'm not married."   
  
"That doesn't seem to be stopping anyone nowadays." She extends a liver spotted hand, "I'm Serena Vega."   
  
"Excuse me."   
  
"Serena Vega," she says slower. "You speak Spanish so well; I almost forgot you're not a native."   
  
Get it together Liz. This is just a coincidence. She's nearly seventy. We're not saving the world together. My clammy hand clasps hers, "Elizabeth Parker."   
  
The seatbelt light flashes overhead.   
  
"You need to sit down now," a passing flight attendant informs me.   
  
I sit down while Serena pulls out a long black sweater from her bag. "Do you knit?"   
  
"A little, my grandmother taught me. I'm afraid I'm not very good at it."   
  
"Well that's better than my godson's mother," she scowls. "Why his father was ever attracted to her, I have no idea. It has to be the size of her breasts." Her needles click furiously. "Warped his brain for a bit."   
  
I laugh.   
  
"It's a fact."   
  
_Good, you got her to wear that top._   
  
I look down at my insignificant chest. "Yes, I guess you're right."I feel the tires start to whirl furiously under me. Faster and faster, they compel the plane onward. The force pushes me back into the seat. My stomach lurches, and the plane lifts off.   
  
"Excuse me; I have to use the bathroom. At my age, long trips get a little hard. I blame my son," she smiles as she passes.   
  
I slide the large caramel envelope marked with the CDC logo from my purse and break open the top. Dumping it out on the pop up table, a small note is attached to the first page written in his familiar scrawl.   
  
I've missed you.   
Brian   
  
I trace the loops of his Ss. Guilt twists into my stomach. I've messed up. He deserves better that what I can give him. I'm in a limbo, that I can't get out of.   
_  
Knowing you has made me human. Whether I die tomorrow or fifty years from now, my destiny is the same: it's you. I want to be with you, Liz. I love you._   
  
No, you don't a year later you'll be too busy loving Tess.   
  
  
Puncturing the plastic back with my nails, I pull the headphones out and stick them into the seat's arms. A Madonna song from her techno period begins.   
  
_You were my lesson   
I had to learn.   
I was your fortress   
You had to burn.   
_  
I rip the headphones out of my ears even Madonna has it out for me.   
  
Focus.   
  
CDC Field Report   
5-13-09   
Field Leader: Brian Erickson   
  
Overview: It is believed that patient one, a soldier in the Mexican army, encountered the carrier while patrolling the Chiapian border. Patient one became separated from his unit while on patrol. His unit later found him floating in a stagnant pool of water. Taken to the St. Clara village hospital, the doctor on duty reported that patient one had internal and external bleeding surrounding his eyes and sinus passages. His lymph nodes had metastasized and severe trauma to his torso had occurred. The initial diagnosis was that patient one had suffered an allergic attack from the La Reina spider. However, within three hours, five medical personal, four soldiers, and two patients had succumbed to similar symptoms. Their bouts were characterized with server hallucinations followed by the emergence of a silver hand print...   
  
What. I wipe my eyes. I have him on the brain today that's all this is.   
  
Their bouts were characterized with sever bouts of hallucinations followed by the emergence of a silver handprint upon their skin. As of yet, we have not been able to separate the virus' enzymes using ELISE. A minuscule green substance has been the only by product of the procedure.   
  
Gandarium? Now, you're really jumping to conclusions.   
  
In attempt to keep the contagion under control, the borders of Chiapas have been closed. A team of five will be departing from Mexico City on 5-15 while a secondary team will coordinate efforts from the capitol.   
  
Grabbing my purse, I start looking for my cell phone. I have to be on this team.   
  
Completely engrossed, I barely notice Serena brush by me.   
"It an exercise in the futility Miss. Parker. You won't be able to stop my little project. "   
  
My eyes shoot up. Instead of a matronly Mexican woman, a dark haired man stares at me with a voracious intensity. "Of course, I might spare you in the end, "his eyes roam down my body. "You have such a passion about you; it's like aphrodisiac to us. I can literally taste your anger and your sadness. You batted those little pretty eyes of yours at our dear king, and he was a goner."   
  
Instinctively, I try to move away before I realize I'm in airplane. There's really no where to move. New approach be direct and hope he doesn't blast me into bits. "Who are you?"   
  
"Here, I thought you were one of the more intelligent members of your species Liz. Can I call you Liz? Elizabeth seems so, well, queen like, and Antar already has a queen." He leans in closer, "tell me, do you ever imagine the happy little family? Max lifting their son up on his shoulders while Tess looks adoringly on," he pauses to gauge my reaction," or maybe it's the more intimate moments that drive you crazy. Tess writhing beneath your beloved and my nemesis as his tongue caresses…."   
  
"What do you want Khivar?"   
  
"Ah, there's the Parker intelligence I've heard so much about. You know it would have never worked between you and Max." His fingers reach out to touch my knees. "You challenge him too much. Generally, powerful men don't like that Lizzie, but I, on the other hand, find the battle for supremacy rather attractive. The pulling and the pushing against another," he traces a line up my thigh, "ending in one final pop," he drawls.   
  
I stop his hands, "I scream, and this could get very ugly for you."   
  
"Who's going to save you?" He laughs while making a show of looking around," I don't see Max charging in to rescue you. How bout we do a little scientific experiment? Think he feel it if I snapped your neck?"   
  
"No," I say firmly, "but if you want to try your experiment on Tess I'd be more than willing to listen to your results."   
  
"Smart and sarcastic, I think I'm in love."   
  
I pull a glossy photo of a body out from my folder. "This your handy work?"   
  
Khivar turns his head, "bad lighting and a terrible camera angle. Who do you have taking these? There should be a lot more internal bleeding, and the body isn't even bloated. I could make you a queen."   
  
"And why would I want to do that when Tess is already the queen? How is the disease transmitted?"   
  
"Person to person contact. Royalty comes and goes Liz. Are your lips as soft as they look? Max seemed to think so."   
  
I stiffen losing my control, "Is he alive? Where is he?" my voice softens.   
  
"Tangled in the sheets with Tess. She's quite the little fertile one. Of course, you know that already. Tell me, how much does it bother you that she had Max's heir and several others?"   
  
Something in my stomach twists. "Are you using gandarium as the accelerator?"   
  
"A question for a question Liz, and don't lie. I'll know."   
  
I sigh, "What do you think?"   
  
"I want to hear the answer come from those very kissable lips of yours."   
  
"It hurts."   
  
"More adjectives Liz."   
  
"The accelerator Khivar."   
  
He leans into me, and his lips graze my ear.   
  
I repress the revulsion that surges through me. He has information, and I need it.   
  
"It's not gandarium. Go back to the States I wouldn't want you getting hurt," he pulls back. "You've already paid enough for being connected to him. A beauty like yours should be preserved and where would the little spitfire be without you."   
  
Spitfire? Maria "Leave her out of this."   
  
"Jealous, there's enough of me to go around, besides, I've always had a thing for brunettes rather energetic in bed. It's a shame Max never got to see that side of you. Would have enjoyed seeing those images from his head then again I rather find that information out for myself."   
  
Serena clears her throat above us.   
  
"You're in her seat."   
  
"That I am." He gets up, "I'll be seeing you Liz."   
  
I watch his lanky figure head to the back of the plane. A flight attendant obscures him for a moment. Seconds later she moves, but he's already gone. Scanning the plane, he isn't here. Can he teleport?   
  
"That one is evil," Serena comments, "reminds me of my first husband. He was always playing games."   
  
"Yes, but if I have to play his game to get what I want then I'm doing it."   
  
She regards me for a moment, "then I suggest you don't play his game by yourself. Wait for some help."   
  
I turn towards the window and look out at the midnight sky, "no one is coming to help me."   
  
"Sometimes help turns up in the places you least expect it to."


	3. Femina Sola

ParkerEvanss~ Glad you're enjoying the angst. I live for angst. You know I hate future Max to. He was an idiot. The fact that he comes from the future and says oh put Tess in a slutty top so I can see her breasts and that will be enough to make my present version ditch you says a lot about first time frame Liz and Max relationship. The part that really made me mad was when he was trying to thrust Liz off on Kyle and she gave her don't you know what you mean to me speech. See now I'm ranting about Max. J Loved the brat majesties part. He he he !!! Can I steal that? As for Khivar, well you'll just have to wait and see. MUHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Chaosti~ Glad you like Khivar. He's really fun to write. I was sort of thinking the same think about Khivar and Liz having chemistry. Maybe after this story is done, I'll start writing Khivar and Liz fics. Oh, he definitely is going to be trying to get him some Liz lovin in the future. He's got the hots for her because he spent a little much time in Max's head. 

Radiogirl~ Max is around, and he is coming. He's going to be changed somewhat due to his experiences. Life has not been cool for Max at all. 

Me~ Thanks so much. The muse has not been cooperating for Surfacing. I've been feeling really snarky lately and that doesn't really go with the Surfacing vibe, but I think I'm going back to it after this chapter. I sometimes think that I use a little much description so I'm trying something a little more toned down in this one. 

Julieanna~ Khivar and Liz. I know I really want to write that now all of sudden. I'm thinking stand alone story. I never knew I was repressed traitor, but I seem to have problems writing Liz with anyone but Max. Case in point this chapter. You'll have to tell me how well you enjoy Liz's mystery guest. 

Smile1~ thanks so much for your review!

I don't know if Mexico is like Europe where American cell phones don't work, but let's pretend that in my Mexico they do J \

Quotes from End of the World and It's Too Late It's Too Bad 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Standing on my tiptoes, I try for the second time to pull Serena's luggage out. "I hate being short." I grumble. 

"Wait till you get older and start to shrink. Sometimes I feel like the incredible shrinking woman." 

"Oh joy," I stretch my fingers out and grasp the handle of her suitcase. "I can carry this to customs if you want?" I ask sliding it towards the edge. "Serena?" Glancing down, I catch her looking at my stomach in horror. Quickly, I yank my tank down and set her bag beside me. 

The color returns to her cheeks and her eye lands on a girl beside me with a belly button ring. "Those are such disgusting things," she adds a little too quickly. Moving from her seat, she follows behind me down the aisle. "Sixty three and I've officially become my mother. This is so depressing. God should just take me now. Of course, I don't think I'll be allowed into the pearly white gates. I was a bit wild in my day. Husband number three and I used to," she stops, "I think you're too young to hear the bulk of the things we used to do." 

We say good bye to the pilots and flight attendant and head up the ramp into the airport. 

"What do you parents think about this job you do?" she begins tentatively. "It's rather risky."

"My parents are dead," my voice wavers slightly hoping she will drop the subject all together. 

She frowns. "That is why your spirit is starving." 

"What?"

"This work you do. Running around the world, you're constantly giving, but you take nothing back."

"I get things back when the people I help recover."

"And loose when they don't that creates a famine. Your soul is screaming for someone to love you to be your home."

"I'm perfectly content on my own. It's not healthy to make one person your end all." 

Her amber eyes narrow in on me in a look that seems almost familiar in a way, "spoken like someone who has gotten burned." 

"It happened. It's over. He's in my past. We never had a future." I answer briskly. 

She pats my shoulder, "a past and a future do not exist. Time does not stretch out into one continuous line. It winds up like film in a movie projector and sometimes given the right impetus different moments will touch. Elements long separated will find themselves thrown back together into the mix."

"A temporal fold."

"Temporal folds," she scoffs, "Back to the Future mumbo jumbo. The stupidity of your physicists amazes me still. Einstein may have had a brilliant mind, but he knew nothing about time travel. I'm talking about second changes, a righting of the divergence you and he suffered."

"He has wife and a child. He could have even more by now."

A look of distaste crosses her face. 

"It wasn't with him while he was married."

"Hija, you are definitely not one of those women, but say he wasn't with the child's mother. Do you think you could love the child?"

"I don't know, and who's to say his son would even like me. His mother sure didn't."

"Well obviously his mother is lacking." 

"Tess isn't exactly a bad person."

Serena looks at me sternly.

"God, I hated her. She used to wear this shiny lip gloss. She was such a ..."

"Ho," Serena inserts. 

I snicker at hearing an elderly woman use such a word.

"Did I use it right?"

"Yes," I smile. "Where did you learn that?"

"My granddaughter Miranda burned me a rap C.D. They kept using it over and over. I had to call her up and ask what is this ho? I thought it meant shovel." 

"You told me you didn't know English."

"I know a little," she admits." Spanish comes easier to me since it's more like my native language." 

"You're not Mexican?"

"Well, I think this is the end of our journey for now."

"Why?"

"Customs." 

Looking up, I notice numerous lanes teaming with waiting people. "It was nice meeting you. Will you be able to handle your bag?"

"I'll get one of those fine looking baggage carriers over there to help." 

"Serena."

"God created men for women to appreciate, and I've done a lot of appreciating in my day. I intend to do a lot more before I'm done." She hands me a scrap of paper with her number on it. "I know you're going to be busy, but if you need anything please call, besides, I'd like you to meet my godson's father. You two would be perfect for each other."

"The one who likes big breasts." I point to my chest, "I think he would be woefully disappointed."

"Oh, I've cured him of the breast thing. I got hold of him and beat some sense into his brain. It took months, but, believe me, I can be very persuasive. Think about it. Adios Liz." I watch her head for one of those aisles.

[i]Serena said--she's going to be a friend of yours someday. [/i]

I stare down at the paper.

"Serena wait." 

She stops. 

Fiddling with my back, I pull out a pen and a scrap of paper. Quickly, I jot my cell phone number on it and give it to her. "I'm not the most interesting person in the world...but..." 

"I find you to be infinitely interesting." She squeezes my hand. "What ever life throws at you, you don't give up. Few people have that ability."

Liz Parker the good little soldier. 

"Don't worry things are going to work out for you this time." A seriousness enters her tone, "I personally guarantee it. Be safe and please don't go near that man from the plane," she kisses my cheek.

"I promise. Good bye." I watch her retake her spot in line. 

A slight vibration comes from my purse. I grab my phone and see Maria's caller ID. 

"Liz,youhavetocomehomerightnow?"

"You have to calm down. I can't understand you."

I hear her take a sniff from her cedar oil. 

"Monique did a reading for you. She saw you floating in a pool of water."

"I hope I was face up."

"This isn't funny Liz. You got the death card. You're going to die out there." 

"Maria, you can't get something so definite from Tarot."

"Miss. Cleo did."

"Miss. Cleo got busted for fraud." 

"What else was there?" I ask hoping to calm her down.

"The high priestess." 

"So I'm meeting a wise woman," I snap back to look at Serena waiting in line. 

"And Brian's going to have you counting ceiling tiles real soon," Maria squeals. "Monique pulled the lover's card."

"Ok see everything is going to be fine."

"You get laid and then you die. Please explain how this is fine?" 

"Maybe it's the sex that kills me? I spontaneously combust."

"Well you take this more seriously. The Great Beyond is clearly trying to tell you something. Did anything weird happen on your trip down?"

"No."

"Liz."

"Maria."

"Don't make me come down there and drag your lying butt back to Atlanta. I'll do it." 

"I saw Khivar." I hold the phone away from my ear.

"YOU SAW WHO?" A large thuds sounds in the background.

"Maria?"

"I just fell off the bed. Did he hurt you?"

"No, he just flirted with me." 

"What are you like catnip to these people?"

"One sec Maria." 

Proceeding through the diplomatic aisle, I hand the custom's officer my papers. 

"Do you have anything to declare?"

"No." 

Opening up my passport, he stamps it. 

"Thanks." I get on a moving walk way. "No, he just told me that the king and queen of Antar are single handily repopulating the planet." 

"Could you spare me the disgusting visual? I'm coming down."

"No, you have work."

"Screw work, the alien abyss appears to be opening at your feet and you need someone to watch your back besides school ends next week anyway."

"You can't skip the last week of school. Your students would never forgive you. I'm fine. Khivar is just fishing for something." 

"Yeah you, it would be a wonderful way to stick it to Max." 

"I doubt he'd care one way or the other." 

"You don't really think that do you?" 

"He choose Tess... not me. It's perfectly fine." 

"If you're so over it, why does it sound like your gritting your teeth?" 

"I got to go." 

"Alright, but if Caligula and the little misses show up with junior in tow I want you to call me. This is something you don't need to take on by yourself. If you see Michael," she inserts trying to sound offhand but failing miserably, "tell him. I don't know. Tell him something." 

My heart dips. I'm not the only one dealing with the past. "I will." I say stepping onto a very crowded elevator. "Bye." 

I'm about to step off when a familiar voice calls out "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes Miss. Parker." 

I lurch forward as my boot heal catches in the escalator's groove. I'm seconds from landing flat on my face when two strong arms steady me.

"Brian," I breathe trying to calm my racing heart. 

He takes my bag from me. "Never had a girl literally fall head over heals, because she was so excited to see me," his arms enfold me, "God I missed you." His lips move against mine in a soft kiss, but it doesn't make me burn. No one can now. 

"I'm sorry," I stare into his brilliant blue eyes. "You must think I'm terrible for leaving like I did. Please don't think I was trying to use you, because that's not what it was at all.. It's just that I," I pause as the pressure in my lungs builds to a fever pitch.

"You're still in love with Max," he states rather bluntly. 

"No, of course not. Who...who told you his name?" I stutter. 

"I asked Maria about him at your New Year's Party. Said he was an ass. No, I believe her exact term was an intergalactic ass of royal proportions, and she planned to murder him if he ever came near you again." 

"I'm going to kill her." 

"She loves you Liz." He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, "you know in the hospital you kept calling for him." 

" I was pumped full of painkillers. It's doesn't mean anything." 

His cell phone interrupts me.

"You better get that."

"They can call back." 

"Brian, you're the field leader."

"I'm your friend first. Speak Parker or we staying at the airport indefinitely. We'll have a slumber party right over there." He points to some nearby chairs. "Be just like the time we camped out in Kenya." 

I owe him an explanation. "It's stupid really. "Ma--," my mouth refuses to say his name. "We weren't even together that long, but I fell so hard, and like that," I snap my fingers, "he was gone. I'll never understand how something so strong could burn out so quickly. If you want intensity, I can't give you that. I don't work that way anymore," my voice wavers as I find an interesting spot on his shirt to study.

"Parker, shine those pretty eyes of yours my way." His thumb strokes my hand, "the only way to survive this job is to detach, but this last month has been hell without you. All I've wanted to do is talk to you, but you made yourself dammed near impossible to get in contact with," anger creeps into his tone, "that hurt more than anything. I know you were busy but, Liz, you could have given me a call." 

"I was embarrassed. I thought you were calling to say you never wanted to see me again." Reaching up, I trace my fingers along his tanned cheeks. "I really don't have many friends. Maria, Kyle, and you. I don't know what I would do without you." 

"Friendships just don't end Liz."

__

I have a responsibility to alex to find out what really happened. 

Liz, if you go, our friendship is over. 

Oh, but they do. 

"Hey, don't cry. God, I hate it when you do that." 

"I'm so sorry for messing up. You mean the world to me, but you don't deserve to go through this with me."

His lips frown slightly, "just tell me one thing, are you still in love with Max? Be honest."

"I will always love him, but I'm not in love with him. He has life, and I have mine." 

"So, where does that leave us? I don't want this to sound awkward, but I don't regret what happened," his blue eyes level mine. 

I swallow.

__

Don't you realize what you are to me...and you're always gonna be? You're the love of my life. Everyone else is gonna be second best. There'll never be another you. 

Shut up. 

"Judging by the deer in the headlights look you do," he takes a step away from me. 

I grab his arm, "this is going to sound stupid considering how long we've known each other, but can...can we go slow?" 

"Snail pace or sloth slow?"

I smack him. "You're real funny."

"Whatever happens," his tone deepens" just remember I'm not Max. I won't hurt you like he did." 

"I hurt him just as much as he hurt me." 

"Sounds like the two of you were rather the fun pair." 

His phone launches into the Imperial March theme from Star Wars. 

"You better get that."

"Yeah." Flipping the phone open, he hits the send button. "Brian Erickson. Got it. I'm coming." His face turns grim. "It's time to talk shop Parker. Let's get out of here." 

"What is it?"

"The virus breeched the quarantine. There's two confirmed cases in Acapulco. The preliminary culture came back from Acapulco, and it's a different strand. Factor in that there's nothing in the neighboring states in between shows the virus is not naturally occurring. Someone is releasing it. You have that look. If you know something, Parker share." 

My knees wobble underneath me. 

How do I say this? I used to date the reincarnated essence of alien king, and his mortal enemy is now unleashing a plague on Earth. Is this how it started the first time around? I ripped my heart out and his. It changed nothing. Except, there's only me now to fight this threat, and I have no idea what I'm doing. "I think it might be spread by person to person contact."

"How so?"

A megalomaniacal alien told me. We pass through the revolving doors. An immediate breeze caresses my skin. "It would account for the medical personal getting sick." 

"I thought so at first, but after I sent the report off to you two other soldiers got sick. They weren't even in patient zero's unit." Brian stops a bright green VW taxi. 

"Which means we're back to square one." 

I slide into the back seat with him. 

" Calle de Ojo numero viente quarto," he tells the driver who whips the car out into incoming traffic. "The government's called an emergency meeting." He leans his head back against the seat, "Manuel said there's some American military advisors down here as well. You know how I love those guys never giving me anything I need because of national security, but expect me to share everything with them. It's funny you know they already had a guy down here before we were even operating under the scenario of bioterrorism. A real ass."

"You never did play well with others. What's his name so I'll know to stay clear of him."

"Pierce something." 

"What?" 

"He was constantly hanging around while we trying to study the samples. It was almost like he was looking for something." 

This is bad. There are just too many coincidences.

"You stay at the hotel and rest, I'll go to the meeting."

"I think I should go to." 

"I don't think it's a good idea. Pierce will be there," he pauses, "look, I don't want to scare you, but, he seems to be rather interested in you. He keeps pumping everyone for information about you, and he went over my head to get you down here. I thought you need some time off after Africa." 

My blood chills. I've just left bad for ominous. 

"Do you have any idea what's he up to?" he asks concerned. 

I take Brian's hand. Tracing his knuckles, a warmth radiates into my fingers. 

Warm and Alive.

I bite my bottom lip. 

Alex.

Cold and Dead.

If I bring him into this, it's possible he'll end up the very same way. The I Know an Alien Club is not kind to its human members. 

"I have no idea," the lie tumbles effortlessly off my lips after years of practice. Looking out the window, the stone turrets of Cathedral de Guadalupe looms up in front of me. 

A knot forms in my stomach.

I've never lied to him before. 

Thoughts on Brian? I was having problems there. Oh, I know they kissed please forgive that. I just have problems with Max going away and Liz being nun. Let's take a vote would you like some Liz or Brian nookie or not or all you pushing for a Liz and Khivar. 


	4. The Odd One Out

Quotes: Tess, Lies, and Videotape   
Chapter Four: The Odd One Out   
  
"Are you sure about this Parker?" Brian asks holding the door open for me. "You don't need to be here; besides, you're looking a little pale."   
  
"Stop worrying. I really don't think Pierce is going to be lurking around the lab at two in the morning."   
  
His frown only deepens.   
  
Hoping to distract him, I reach out to straighten his tie. Yet, it still looks like a mess. Undoing the loop, I start to make a new knot.   
  
Brian touches my wrists, "he was asking about your parents."   
  
The pieces of fabric slip momentarily out of my hands. "I can...handle it." Now go to your meeting and play nice with the other bureaucrats. I've got some cells to look at."   
  
"Yes ma'am. If anything happens, I want you to page me."   
  
Standing on my tiptoes, I smooth a blonde fly away down.   
  
"Are you done dressing me mom?"   
  
"If I had been dressing you, I would have never put the tie with that shirt."   
  
He looks down at his tie.   
  
"Kidding." I kiss a tanned cheek and push him toward the door. "You're going to be late."   
  
"You know I think you're trying purposely to get rid of me."   
  
"I guess I might as well come clean. Mani and I are having a fling."   
  
"That would be the day," he snorts. "See you."   
  
I lean up against the wall and watch him leave.   
  
_"I'm sorry that you had to come down and do this Ms. Parker. It's just that only family can claim the remains. If you just initial here, I can send them off to the funeral home for cremation."   
"I want to see them."   
"I beg you to reconsider. Their injuries--." _  
"I want to see them."   
  
I wipe at something in my eye. Stopping at the security desk, I hand the guard my credentials.   
  
"Everything seems to be in order," he pauses, "where did you get your necklace?"   
  
"It's Pueblo."   
  
"That crest is all over the Mayan temples at Chichen Itza. I'm studying archeology at the university," he explains.   
  
"Do you know what the Mayans used it for?"   
  
"They believed it would protect them against the Nzaran."   
  
"Nzaran?"   
  
"They were a mythological people that came from the sky. Mayan priests thought they would bring about the end of the world. Senorita are you all right? You look as a white as a ghost."   
  
"I'm fine."   
  
He opens the security door. Turning the corner, a very red slightly over weight man blocks my way into the haz-mat facilities.   
  
"Mani."   
  
"The stain image shows the sample is a filovirus. Why are you questioning my findings? He grimaces, "you're doing that witch thing again aren't you? It's how you always seem to know what the virus is before anyone else."   
  
"It's actually an Antarian thing."   
  
"What?" He fondles a box of Marlboro's peeking out of his shirt pocket.   
  
"Go have your cigarette Mani." I duck underneath his arms and begin to slide a blue protective suit up over my clothes. My attention falls on large TV feeding images of the virus's cultures. "It's beautiful." I trace the u shaped design. "The body is almost perfectly symmetrical."   
  
"How did you know I wanted a cigarette?"   
  
"You're starting to get irritable."   
  
"You sound like my wife."   
  
Poor woman.   
  
"It's just that Brian wanted me to fill in as your lab partner."   
  
"I always work alone. You know that." I snap away from my study and begin to zip up the front of my suit. " He wanted you stay with me because of Pierce didn't he?"   
  
Mani suddenly finds an interesting spot over my head to study.   
  
"What is this guy built like a linebacker?"   
  
"No, more like an evil Ronald Regan."   
  
"He's old?"   
  
"Yeah, like sixty. He's got these black beady eyes, and he likes to get up in everyone's face. A real pendejo," he mumbles.   
  
I pull my hair back into a ponytail.   
  
"And he had the nerve to tell me that smoking is bad."   
  
"Smoking is bad for you Mani. Can you help me put the mask on?"   
  
"He didn't have to give me a lecture on it." He slips the large spaceman contraption over my head. "For such a little woman, you have a giant head."   
  
"God decided to give me a big head to make up for the other areas he left me lacking in." I take a deep breath of the filtered air.   
  
"Hey don't listen to what Max told you."   
  
"Does everyone know his name now?"   
  
"I was ease dropping at your New Year's Eve Party. Maria threatened to have him drawn, quartered, castrated, and have his remains eaten by a tribe of cannibals. Kyle said he just planned to shoot him in the head. Brian offered to expose him to small pox. We're all going to tack team if he ever shows up here."   
  
I roll my eyes, "you might want to rethink that scenario."   
  
"What does he have super powers?"   
  
"Sort of it. Now go smoke please."   
  
"I'll be back in five minutes Isabella."   
  
"I told you not to call me that."   
  
"It's your name in Spanish," he shrugs.   
  
Trudging to the next door, I punch in the clearance code. A loud suction sounds as the hermetically sealed door opens to reveal a world of white. Ivory tiles gleam while a large clear pod and microscope sits in the center of the room. The sight triggers a sudden bout of nostalgia.   
  
_His sienna eyes look up from the microscope in frustration. "I can't find anything."   
  
"Let me try." Placing my eye to the lens, I watch a spindly filament move across the slide. "You have to see this Max," I tap his hand excitedly.   
  
"I see it now."   
  
"Isn't it incredible? No matter how big or small or whatever our genetic makeup we're just living our lives out day by day. We're all the same."   
  
He turns his face to mine.   
  
"You must think I'm the biggest nerd."   
  
"No," he says solemnly. Something flits across his face but is gone before I can make sense of it. "I don't think Liz Parker and nerd even belong in the same sentence. You see things in a way few people do. Science is your passions don't ever apologize for it."   
  
I blink.   
  
He blushes.   
  
I can feel him closing up on me again. "I like that I can loose myself in it no matter what is happening."   
_  
_"That and the order it gives," he adds, "in science there are no gray areas."   
  
"How did you know that was what I thought?"   
  
"I'm your lab partner after all until you decide to trade me in for a new one," he smiles.   
  
"I won't ever do that," I blurt out. "I mean you might want a new one next year."   
  
"Never."   
_  
I bite down on my bottom lip trying to halt my walk down memory lane.   
  
_Since you're obviously so eager, Mr. Evans, I'd like you to come up and be Miss Harding's lab partner. I'm sure with your help, she'll be caught up in no time.   
_  
A warmth drips down my lip. I wipe the red liquid away.   
_  
It's just that we used to have an even number of students, and now that Tess is here, it's odd... it's an odd number. So, someone is going to be stuck without a partner, you know, mathematically._

Enough!!!   
  
I approach the clear container that houses several virus cultures. Opening it up, I scrape of a sample, stain it with a drop of iodine, and then place it underneath the microscope. Seconds later an image appears on the computer screen of a u shaped structure. "A textbook filovirus."   
  
"There's nothing textbook about it Liz."   
  
"Could you please not sneak up on me Khivar when I'm handling a deadly virus?" Quickly, I put the sample back into the pod and turn to face him. "How did you get in here anyway?"   
  
"Magic." He gives the room the once over. "I have to say I'm not impressed. There is no way you're going to stop me with such inferior equipment. You know you were doing something remarkably similar when Max realized he was in love with you. He found your empathy infectious and in that moment all he wanted to do was take you in front of the whole class." Khivar flicks a piece of imaginary dust of his fingers, "no sorry that was Tess."   
  
"Then I'm glad he got what he wanted. Why don't you give me what I want and leave? " I point to the cameras, "before someone comes and makes you."   
  
"No one makes me do anything, besides, the guard is otherwise distracted for the time being. Take the hat off. It makes you sound like Darth Vader. You don't need it. The virus isn't airborne."   
  
"I am not..."   
  
His black eyes lock with mine.   
  
A hot and confined feeling settles over me, and I rip the mask off.   
  
"Isn't that better?" He reaches out to stroke my cheek.   
  
I brush his hand away. "Don't you have some small animals to torture and children to terrorize?"   
  
He crosses his arms, and his full lips fall into a pout. "I happen to like animals. As for children, how about having mine?"   
  
"It's not happening."   
  
"So what you're going to have blondie's children then?"   
  
"I never said that."   
  
"I knew it. You're still hung up on Max."   
  
"I never said that either."   
  
A predatory look appears on his face, "you know I could make you want me. A couple of suggestions you would be begging for it."   
  
I swallow.   
  
"What no pithy comeback?"   
  
Keep one step ahead of him my brain screams. I lick my lips and watch his eyes follow my tongue's path. "You won't use your powers on me."   
  
"Why? I used the same tactic to seduce Vilandra."   
  
"Because you're all about the chase. You get nothing if I don't commit myself fully to you without manipulation."   
  
"Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that you will only commit yourself fully to one man?"   
  
Reaching up, I loosen my hair. "Why do we have to always talk about him?"   
  
His pupils dilate and practically obscure the black of his iris. "Max loved you hair. He thought it felt like silk." His head dips down to mine, but I dart away.   
  
"Honeyed words worked when I was sixteen." I struggle to keep the anger out of my voice, "those aren't even your memories."   
  
"Sometimes they feel like it," he mutters. "Then tell me, what works with you now?"   
  
I point to the virus. "You said it wasn't textbook. How so?"   
  
"Fishing are we?"   
  
"I'm a scientist and behind that guard is the first known extraterrestrial virus. You want me appeal to my mind."   
  
"Alright. What do you think you know?"   
  
"It's filovirus. There's one strain in Chiapas and another in Acapulco. It's not being spread naturally."   
  
"Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. You aren't really presenting me with the challenge that I thought you would."   
  
"I know you're releasing it. There's no contagion in the bordering states."   
  
"And?" A gleam enters his jet black eyes.   
  
"That just doesn't happen with a naturally occurring virus."   
  
"Think outside of the box Elizabeth," his fingers walk up the base of a microscope. "What do you know about mitochondria?"   
  
"It converts ATP into energy in cells. Scientists theorize it used to be parasite that a cell's nucleus has since made harmless."   
  
He looks down at the cultures, "now imagine if the mitochondria decided to reassert its control over the situation."   
  
"I don't see the connection. Hypothetically, it might be able to live outside of its host due to being organic, but a virus' inorganic state would make that impossible."   
  
"Outside of the box," he mummers over my shoulder. "You smell so good."   
  
"You're in my space," I push him away. "Outside of the box. I don't under-- Oh my God. It doesn't need a host does it? Somehow you've engineered a virus to have a body of its own, but there's still the dead. I don't get it."   
  
A Cheshire Cat like grin spreads over his face, "come over here and sit on my lap like a good little girl and maybe I tell you some more."   
  
"The Russians were trying to do something like that during the Cold War, but they never succeeded. I always thought it was completely theoretically."   
  
"I'm glad you're impressed. It took me years of trials to achieve. Of course, I've always enjoyed science. No other discipline can provide one with so many varied ways to end life."   
  
"That's not what science is about at all."   
  
Grabbing my shoulders, he shoves me up against the wall.   
  
"You dare to judge me? They're two types of life forms in this universe predator and prey. I decided long ago I was most certainly not going to be anyone's prey."   
  
My pulse throbs in my neck. I've overplayed my advantage. A stinging begins in my palms. "Let go of me."   
  
He pins my wrist over my head. "We could have so much fun together Liz if you would just stop fighting me. Do you really think that bumbling blonde idiot has any idea who you are?"   
  
"And you do?"   
  
"I know you in a way that no will ever know you. I've seen your love and passion lying dormant just waiting to be tapped by the right person."   
  
"You've seen nothing," I struggle in vain to free my hands. "All you've done is take memories that were never yours in the first place.   
  
"I've taken a lot more than that from Max."   
  
"Stopping playing with me and tell me the truth. Is he....dead?"   
  
"Dead is a word with multiple connotations Liz. Let's just say Max has been irreversibly changed by his time with me." A sticky tongue licks the side of my face," just like strawberries and crème."   
  
I wince as the pain in my palms intensifies into a full-blown burn.   
  
"Pity, you're not ready."   
  
"Let me go and I'll show you how ready I am," I purr rubbing my legs against his thighs.   
  
"What are you doing?" he hisses.   
  
Probably getting myself killed. "Bowing to the inevitable. Anyone everyone tell you that power is an incredible turn on. How much do the planet do you actually control?" I whisper into his ear.   
  
"Half," he croaks.   
  
"Only half."   
  
"Seventy-five percent," he corrects quickly.   
  
"What will you give me?" I drag my lips across the side of his jaw ignoring my need to throw up.   
  
"Anything," he swallows.   
  
"I want Tess' head on a platter."   
  
"I never really liked her that much anyway," he releases one of my hands. "I'll throw in their whelp to."   
  
My fingers trail down his arms. "You're too good to me."   
  
"Seth takes too much after his father anyway."   
  
My hand stops.   
  
"Something wrong? You wouldn't being playing me would you Liz?" He crushes my remaining captive hand.   
  
YES, YOU ARROGANT BASTARD!!! "No, I would never be that stupid. I'm harmless to someone of your stature," my lips hover inches from his causing a new infusion of bile to rise in my throat.   
  
"You are far from harmless," his eyes land on my mouth.   
  
I can't do this.   
I have to do this.   
I need flashes. If I got them from Nasedo, it should work on him.   
  
He licks his lips.   
  
I imagine a super size bottle of Listerine.   
  
"You could stab me in the back at anytime."   
  
"If you want safe Khivar, I suggest going back to Antar and find a nice girl you can dominate. I don't do docile."   
  
He releases my other hand.   
  
I clear my head of any thoughts.   
  
"I've had docile. Docile is predictable."   
  
"There's nothing predictable about me." I punctuate my statement by ramming my lips into his.   
  
His tongue throttles mine, but I get nothing.   
  
He pulls at my hair.   
  
Great Plan. Next time you get a bright idea don't ----.   
  
Khivar's mauling becomes non-existent. I feel my mind falling past bone and muscle, past the night when he strangled Zan with his bare hands, and to the day when Nicholas dropped a bloodied Max at his feet. Khivar can't stop laughing about how a lying woman brought him to this point.   
  
I didn't know. I thought I was helping you. I was only doing what Future Max told me to.   
  
"See what happens when you let your heart guide your way Max," Khivar needles.   
  
"I never loved her," he states flatly.   
  
Max never loved me.   
  
Another memory quickly replaces the last.   
  
Khivar walks purposely through a winding corridor. Entering a room, Nicholas hands him a towel.   
"Who would think humans could be so messy? I barely touch him. He spurts all over me."   
"Your highness, why must we continue to speak this disgusting language? You have mastered English. Could we please move on to something else?"   
"It's Liz's language," Khivar crouches down beside a bed. "How is he?"   
"He was born two hours ago. Genetically, he's an exact duplicate of the deceased host except for..."   
"He's carrying a deadly plague. You can spare me the summary of my own work." He nudges the figure, "It's time for you to wake up Alex."   
  
An angry storm snatches the image away, and two simmering black eyes come back into focus. "You have been a very naughty girl."   
  
I sink down into the corner.   
Max never loved me and Alex...   
My mind can't even begin to think about Alex.   
  
"If you had been anyone else, you'd be dead by now."   
  
He never loved me.   
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he shakes me.   
  
He never loved..   
  
"Look at me dammit."   
  
He never...   
  
Khivar slaps me across the face.   
  
He....   
  
"Still beating up women," the guard's voice comes from the doorway, " I have to say it was an interesting maneuver locking me out from my regular emissary. I miscalculated your over zealousness. It will not be happening again."   
  
"Look Liz, Max sent his personal lackey to protect to you." Roughly, he hauls me up from the floor. "Take another step Larek, and I'll kill her."   
  
"Do you really want to spend the rest of your life running? Max would hunt you down and rip you from limb to limb then after that maybe then he put you of your misery."   
  
"Larek paints a pretty grim picture, but he always was a pessimist. What do you think dear?"   
  
"He never loved me. He never loved me."   
  
"She seems to be quite adamant on that subject.   
  
"What did you do to her?"   
  
"Nothing, yet," he groans, "I couldn't figure how to get this damn suit off of her. Next time Liz wear a dress." His fingers trace a line up the inside of my thigh. "It will show off those nice legs of yours."   
  
I cork up my hurt. Think. It's three feet to the door and Larek. "Then you wouldn't be able to see my tattoo."   
  
"You have a tattoo. I never saw that when..."   
  
"I got it on my twenty first birthday." I turn around in his arm. "You might know how he saw me, but a lot has changed in that time."   
  
"Like what?"   
  
"I'm a lot angrier than I used to be." I trail my burning fingers down his neck until I find his windpipe.   
  
"You're hands feel like they're on fire."   
  
"It's all for you."   
_  
Seth is too much like his father.   
  
I never loved her.   
  
Do you love her?   
Not like I love you.   
  
It's time to wake up Alex. _  
  
Webs of green shoot out of my fingers and wrap around his neck in an emerald chokehold.   
  
I take off running for the door. I'm vaguely aware of Larek shoving me behind him and a yellow shield expanding around us.   
  
On the other side, Khivar eyes me. "An interesting little trick. It would be even more effective if you could hold it for more than two seconds."   
  
"I recall your last mistress saying something remarkably similar," Larek quips.   
  
"This isn't over Liz."   
  
Grabbing me, Larek covers my eyes. Seconds later he lets me go. "Sorry."   
  
Dumbly, I look at the empty room. Khivar isn't here.   
  
"Liz, you have to focus."   
  
"He disappeared. I thought he might be able to, but thinking and witnessing are totally different."   
  
"It's very important that you never look directly at him when he's doing it."   
  
"I don't want to look directly at him period." I drop my head.   
  
"What's wrong?"   
  
"I can't breath."   
  
"You overdid it with your powers. Lean on me. We need to go."   
  
"Go. I can't go. I may be infected."   
  
"You're fine. We stole the viral strain."   
  
"Then what's in there?" I point to the pod.   
  
"Nothing. It's a mindwarp."   
  
"That's just great. How are we supposed to figure out how the virus works if you're making off with all of the samples?"   
  
He opens the door.   
  
"The cameras and Mani."   
  
"It's been handled."   
  
"Do you know how to stop the virus then?"   
  
He doesn't answer me.   
  
"Larek."   
  
"We don't have a clue," he answers bluntly. "I was hoping you could help us with that."   
  
"I need to get very drunk right now."   
  
He riffles through his pockets and pulls out a set of car keys. "It appears that I have a car."   
  
"I think you might be my new favorite alien."


	5. Legacy

Sam-Me Behr with me. Things will start to make sense. The exposition fairy is coming next chapter.

Emma Glad you like Liz. I hate it when she gets portrayed as helpless.

CherryCoke123ABC Thanks for telling me about the formatting. There's a new program manager and I'm having trouble with it because I'm dumb.

Radiogirl glad you like

Julieanna Alex is alive but different. Max is alive but different. And that's all you're getting from me J

Bashipper My room mate was biology major so I go to her for help and then the CDC as this really cool website. Lots of scary stuff on it though.

* * *

Chapter Five: Legacy

My eyes snap open. A green traffic light casts its hue over my sweaty skin. Traveling down my arm, I'm suddenly back with Max in Michael's apartment.

Goosebumps rise at his phantom touch. The car lurches forward causing the color to vanish along with the memory.

"You ok?" Larek asks from the driver's seat.

"I just dozed off," I feign a yawn. "It must be from using my powers."

"I think you were having a nightmare."

Sliding down the window, I stretch my arm out into the warm night air.

"Do you remember it?"

"No, but that's not abnormal considering."

"Considering what?"

I pull my arm back in and gesture to his borrowed body, "what is this guy going to actually remember about tonight?"

His black eyes flick away from the windshield and regards me for a moment, "He'll remember what I want him to remember. That he took an alluring brunette out after work. Of course, I'm going to have to switch bodies pretty soon. He has finals to study for."

"Ah, a body snatcher with a heart," I tease, "what do you really look like?"

"A giant E.T."

"Seriously?"

"I have three heads and fifteen eyes."

"You're putting me on."

"I crawl around on webbed feet, and stick to walls."

"When you're not playing the white knight," I add. "Thank you for saving my life. I sort got a little in over my head."

"It's easy to do with Khivar. He has this ability to spin webs around his victim that only become clear when it's too late." he tightens his hold on the steering wheel, and the blood leaves his fingers. "I don't won't to give you a lecture, but the game you are playing with him is extremely dangerous."

I rub my swollen cheek.

"For the moment, he finds you amusing."

"Which is all the more reason why I have to try to convert that into an advantage. I saw things when I kissed him."

"You kissed him?" The car swerves.

"For the flashes. Someone has to try and understand his motives."

"Someone already does. Your presence could upset his control over the situation."

"Whose control?"

"Liz, your importance lies in figuring out the science not as a spy."

"But..."

"Have you ever been mind rapped or tortured? How long do you think you could actually hold out against Khivar? When he's done with his victims, there's nothing left," his voice hitches. A familiar mixture of anger and guilt swirl across his face until a steely control rises up.

I know that look. I've spent years perfecting it. It's the one you wear to the world to prove you're ok when you're far from it. I press my lips together. "I lost my parents a while back. At their funeral, everyone kept coming up and offering a shoulder to cry on. It really pissed me off. They wanted to help, but they had no idea what it felt like. I was so angry at them, my parents, but I was really mad at myself."

"Because you survived."

"Yes."

"Do you still feel this?"

"No."

He turns the car onto a gravel road and awkward silence rises between us. Great Liz. Offer advise to a person you don't even know.

Sticking my head out of the window, I look up at Venus glowing in the sky.

"You see Venus. Now look to the left for a faint bluish tinge."

I squint my eyes, "I don't see anything Brian."

He frowns. "It isn't clear enough. I wanted you to see it."

"Roswell has an observatory if you want to try there."

His body stiffens. "No, I'd rather not."

"Coming out here was a good idea. Maria means well, but she just..I don't know is...."

"Stifling you."

"Yes. She's worried that I haven't cried yet. After Alex, I sort of shutdown, but there really wasn't anyone for me to go to with it anyway. " I snuggle closer into his warm body. "I think she feels I'm doing it again."

Brian folds the edges of the blanket up around me. "You should have never had to have gone through Alex's death alone."

"It made me the strong kick ass chick I am today."

"Yeah," he whispers as he pulls some fuzz out of my hair.

I glance up at the sky. "I've forgotten how pretty the stars are."

"Why? You always loved the stars."

"They sort of lust their luster after an evil alien king broke my heart.

Abruptly, he sits up.

"You know I was kidding."

He stares out over the horizon.

"Brian?" I touch the back of his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I wish that I could make everything right for you again."

"You do by just being here with me. What am I going to do? I dreamed last night that my parents were still alive. They were doing just everyday stuff. My dad was in the kitchen making pancakes, and my mom was doing laundry. How can they be dead, and I still here when I feel so numb inside? I should be dead to. I should."

Almost immediately, I feel his arms enfold me. "Don't ever say that."

I cringe as a tear slips down on my cheek.

"Your parents loved you, and they wouldn't want you putting yourself through this." He cups my face in his hands. "You're alive and you have to live. You just have to," he pleads as tears begin to form in his own eyes. With his thumbs, he wipes my tears away, "and go after every dream you ever had. promise me that Liz."

"I promise," I vow kissing the back of his hand.

I twist a strand of hair around my index finger.

"How did you get over the guilt?"

My hair drops from my fingertips. "A good friend. He has his moments when he can be really deep then other times well...," I grin.

"The two of you get into a bit of a trouble."

"I got two other friends and when we all get together trouble does seem to follow us."

I watch as Maria and Kyle stagger down the cobbled stone street.

"Despite being drunk off my ass, I have to say that I'm proud of you Parker. Who would have thought that the shyest of all my discussion students would graduated Harvard magnae cum laude," he slurs.

I smack him, "I'm not shy. I emote mystery."

"Mystery my ass. You were petrified the first day. It made me nervous just watching you."

"I was." I admit. "I would have flunked if it had been for you."

"That and you worked your cute little butt of."

"You wouldn't be trying to come on to me Mr. Erickson."

"Possibly," Brian stops suddenly at the gated off founder garden. "Maria, Kyle, want to do something illegal?"

They slowly make their way back to us.

"We did illegal all the time back home. Let's see. There was the time we made it look like I was run over," Maria begins to count on her fingers. "We broke his royal pimpness out of a military facility, helped cover up a murder, Liz jumped off a bridge, broke into school."

Kyle puts his hand over her mouth, "sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Ever scale a wall."

"So you illegally breeched a closed of perimeter? Why?"

"Because we could. Haven't you ever done anything because you weren't supposed to?"

Larek looks at me somewhat perplexed.

"It's a human thing. We sort of ended up in the fountain."

"Let me go," I squeal as Brian and Kyle stick my head underneath a spurt of water.

I see a flash from a camera.

"Maria," I gurgle.

"Blackmail Lizzie. Oh god, I think I'm going to puke." She wretches all over the cement.

Kyle watches over the side, "damn woman."

I wiggle out of the grasp and slush over to her. "You ok?"

"I am now," she wipes her mouth.

Two flashlights land on us.

"Oh shit," she mumbles.

"Hey, Kyle show them your badge G-Man," Brian offers. "The FBI has to have some clout around here."

Maria shrugs her shoulders. "Happy Graduation Liz."

"How did you get out of it?"

"Maria and I just started balling are eyes out. They let us go. Works every time," I chuckle.

A large hacienda estate comes into view lined with cars.

"Um..Larek, this doesn't look like a bar."

"It's my mom's house."

"Your mom."

He stops the car.

I open the door. In the air, I can here the faint sounds of music. My eyes land on the house. "I don't know if this such a good idea."

"We need to be in a place that has a lot of Antarians, and people flock to my mother. Their shared power helps keep Khivar out."

"Is M-- the royal family here?"

"No."

"Good."

"Liz there are some things you need to understand about Max and Tess."

"I'd rather not."

"It's just..."

"Please."

"I guess it can wait. I'm not really the person who should be telling you this anyway. About my mother, she can be a little..."

The front door swings open and almost immediately I find myself firmly entrenched in a hug. "I've been so worried about you hija."

"Serena," I pull away, " you're Larek's mom."

"Mother, what have you've been up to?" Larek asks behind me. "How does Liz know you?"

"You're an alien," I stutter still trying to put everything together.

She links her arms with mine and guides me through a crowded hallway. A sea of heads move in unison. Eye after eye studies me up like I'm some bug pinned to a board. I turn around for Larek, but he's gone.

I smile nervously, and they go back to their conversations.

"You handled that well hija," Serena comments as we enter the kitchen. "I knew you would be a natural."

"A natural for what?"

"You hungry? You must be." She goes to the stove and starts heaping food from several pots on to a plate.

"Why didn't you tell me you were an alien?"

"To be honest, I'm so old. It sometimes slips my mind. I've been living here for so long. I've developed a case of human envy." She says dramatically sitting the plate down beside me.

"Or you're trying to smooth talk me."

"Little bit of that to," she smiles and for some reason I can't stay mad at her.

"Just as long as you're not keeping anything else from me."

She hastily places a Corona in my hand.

"Serena."

"I have your best interests at heart. Think of me as your fairy godmother. I'm going to make all your wishes come true," her eyes sparkle.

"Which would be what mother?" Larek asks from the doorway.

Getting up, she flicks Larek in the chest.

"What was that for?"

"For not calling me more often. Just because you rule a planet it doesn't mean you can't come down here and see me."

"I am here."

"In your real body for once. To think I was in labor..."

"For fifty two hours, and the pain was tremendous," he finishes taking a seat beside me. "Liz is safe that should get me something."

"It's a start. Here I made your favorite." She hands him a plate of shriveled up prunes and then turns to me. "You must eat."

"She actually wants to get drunk," Larek answers.

"Well I was..."

"Drunk I can do," Shuffling to the cabinet, she grabs a bottle of Tequila and three shot glasses.

"You can drink? I thought that it made you all go a little wild."

"There are ways around that little problem." She begins to pour the liquid into the glasses.

"Limes mom."

"Oh yes."

Three limes fly off the counter and land on the table sliced in half.

"Does it bother you for me to use my powers?"

I lick my wrist and sprinkle salt on it, "it's just a little bit unusual for me."

We clink out glasses.

"Amarae verdae," Serena toasts, "to true love," she translates.

We down the liquid.

I begin to suck on a lime to keep from coughing as Serena fills up my glass.

I throw back the shot and then another enjoying the warmth spreading through my body.

"So," she begins tentatively, "are you seeing anyone?"

"Sort of. We're going slow."

"Which is code for going no where."

"Mom we decided..."

"No, you decided." she turns to me. " I'm sorry hija. I'm sure this boy is very nice, but he's not for you. He's nothing more but a cup of chocolate ice cream."

"I don't like chocolate ice cream."

"Precisely. You like vanilla, but you've been enjoying chocolate because vanilla was out of your reach. There's nothing wrong with that," she pats my knee.   
"I mean you have wants, and they have to be meant one way or the other."

"Mom," Larek warns.

"But vanilla has come back, and it's time to start having your needs satisfied."

Larek says something in a language I don't understand.

"I'm cleaning up the mess that I helped to make."

"No, you're meddling."

"You know I could die tomorrow, and you're going to regret taking that tone with me."

"You've been dying for forty years mom."

"My son the smart ass. This is what I get for having a child with a human. Husband number four," she explains. "I just had to go out of species for that one. He had the most beautiful eyes and dimples I had ever seen. We couldn't keep our hands off each other."

Larek's face turns several different shades of red.

"I'm sure you know how it is. You're just going die if you don't touch him."

"And when he touches you, it's like you're burning from the inside out," I hiccup. "You never want it to end."

She gives Larek a know it all glance. "It's a very rare thing to find with another."

"I wish I had never found it." I down another shot and a delightful heat begins to form in my cheeks. "I would have loved him with my mind, body and soul. I did in the first timeline, and he still ordered me to cut him out of his life so he could screw his destiny. You just do that to someone you love, but he never did. I finally get that now," I say stumbling as I get up from the chair.

Larek catches me and sits me back down. "Are you happy now?"

"I had to know how she feels about Max."

"He's a bastard. I hate him." I grab hold of the bottle, but Larek takes it from me.

"I have to get Khivar out of my mouth."

"What was Khivar doing in your mouth?" Serena demands. "He didn't...with her. Max will..."

Larek shakes his head.

"Why? He never loved me, and I don't love him anymore." Standing up slowly, I use the back of the chair for balance. "I love someone else, and he loves me."

Serena steadies me. "Here we go with boy again."

We all turn as my cell phone starts to ring.

"Alright mother, I know that look and whatever your thinking stop it. When Max finds out you made contact with Liz, you're going to be enough trouble as it is."

"Shhh, that's their song hijo. Hold Liz."

"Whose song?"

"So hija," she slides my cell phone out of my purse. "You say Max means nothing to you."

"Yes," I nod emphatically.

"Why do you have this song on your phone? I assume you know the significance."

"Which is what?" Larek asks sounding rather frustrated.

"It was their wedding song before. She used to play it over and over until I hid it from her. I got a little sick of it."

The haze in my brain clears a bit. "You remember what happened before."

She frowns at the caller id. "Who is this Brian?"

"Her boss."

"Is this the boy?"

"No," I reach for the phone.

She hits the off button and sends it floating out of the room.

I turn to Larek. "Am I hallucinating or did she just make my cell phone fly away?"

"Give Liz back her phone."

Serena smiles demurely at us.

"Mother."

"Are you not having fun Liz? Two more hours and then you can talk to the boy as much as you like, besides, you shouldn't be with a human at a time like this. Am I not right Larek?"

"Yes, but..."

"Liz and I are going to mingle."

"Serena I need to call him. He's probably worried about me."

"Later," she grabs my arm and scoots me out the door.

"But the virus."

"It can wait. You need to unwind. You're like this bundle of nerves, which is terrible considering you're garbage."

"Are you calling me trash?"

"No," she blushes. "What is when you're drunk?"

"Oh, wasted."

"See there I go again. I should just leave the lingo to my granddaughter, but you are definitely wasted."

I am not." I stumble, and she holds on to me. "How old are you really?"

"Old enough not to be answering that question. Excuse me just a moment," and she turns to chat to another woman in a language that I suppose to be her native tongue.

I walk through a large archway covered in portulaca blossoms into a large courtyard. In the center, a group of children gather around a heart shaped piñata that is somehow suspended in the air without any cords. Armed with a bat, a blonde boy approaches the red paper papier-mâché contraption. He swings, but misses. Ripping off his blindfold, he shoots a red blast at it, but it bounces off.

The rest of the children scatter leaving a small dark haired boy.

"You blocked my shot," he yells hotly. A red ball of flame forms in his hand.

"So what if I did Talen you were cheating," he answers as a green ball appears in his own palm.

I take a step forward, but stop. These kids have flaming fireballs. It takes all my power to squirt green energy from my fingers for three seconds. I tap a man on the shoulder. "Don't you think you should do something about that?" I point the boys.

"We let our children settle their own disputes," he sneers and returns to his conversation.

Ass. I hate aliens.

"What are you going to do now that daddy isn't here to protect you?" the blonde grits. "He's off with his whore."

A green ball whizzes haphazardly through the air and slams into the trunk leaving a sizzling crater. The boy clinches his finger, but no new orb forms.

"Is anyone going to do anything? He's going to kill him."

"No, he isn't," Serena answers beside me. "You just need to believe."

"What is this some freaky alien right of passage? They're fighting over nothing."

"It's hardly nothing. They're establishing the bounds of control. I just wished his father could have been here."

"To see his son get beat up. I don't understand you people at all."

Talen advances on the boy with a red burning bolt.

The boy flicks his fingers for the twentieth time and nothing happens.

I put my hand over my eyes. "Come on. Come on. Come on," I repeat over in a mantra.

"It's over Liz," Serena announces with dismay. "Poor boy. He just never gets a break. It's that ho of his mother's fault."

Peeking through my fingers, I see the boy on the ground as Talen gloats over him.

"Bastard."

Serena grabs my arm. "Liz you can't get involved in this."

"He's hurt. This has to stop."

She pulls me back by the waist. "You mean well, but this is how it is," Serena explains. "You go out there. You're going to shame him even more. He has to take his lumps just like anyone else."

"He's a child."

A smile forms on her lips. "I knew you'd be perfect."

Getting up, the boy hobbles over to us. "I lost."

"I know honey," Serena answers, "you're just not ready yet."

"I just can't do it." The boy's gaze narrows in on Talen and a woman, who looks to be his mother, fussing over his injuries. "I might never do it." His wounded amber eyes fall on me. Something inside of me shatters. He has Max's eyes. Their child is no longer some indefinable entity but is real. He exists. Destiny won.

I never loved her.

Behind him, a boy splits open the heart shaped piñata. Candy streams out on to the floor. The rest of the children swoop down on the shiny wrapped pieces and carry them off.

"Look at me," he demands scowling in a way that's all Tess.

I shiver.

"You're Liz aren't you?"

"Yes." From his chestnut colored hair to his slender hands, he is every bit his father's son.

"My dad doesn't want you back. He doesn't even like you. He never did."

I swallow.

"Seth that's enough," Serena inserts.

"You're the reason why everything is messed up." A pure hatred shines in his eyes. No, they're Max's eyes. I can't take the resemblance any longer, and I won't wait around to see the same look in his father.

I'm practically through the archway before I hear Serena calling my name, but it makes no dent in my pace. I have to get out of here.

Grabbing the doorknob, I try to turn it, but it refuses to budge.

I look over my shoulder to see Seth standing on the stairway. "Having trouble Liz?"

"Open this door now."

"I don't have to do what you tell me to do."

I pull on the doorknob. "I'm sorry that other kid beat you."

"He didn't beat me. I lost my temper."

"So you're going to keep me locked up in here forever because of it."

"Serena says Khivar is after you."

"No."

"You're lying. Of course that's what you do. Humans are nothing but liars."

I spin around to him, "I only lied because your dad, no, the future version of your dad.......you wouldn't even be... just forget it."

"I wouldn't even be what?"

"It's not important."

"It seems to be pretty important to you." He crosses his arms.

"Let me out of here Seth."

"So Khivar can take you and use you against my dad. Do you have a plan for when you get outside? Who's going to drive you back, and what are you going to do if Khivar shows up again?"

"You take too much after your father," I groan.

"I'll just act like your good friend Tess then?"

"Why bother? You're definitely acting like her now." I watch the doorknob start to move. "Finally."

The door swings open, and I instantly back up.

"So now you want to stay," he jumps down the four remaining steps and lands next to me. "Oh, hi dad."


	6. Destiny's Fallout

I'm not very sure about this chapter so be sure to let me know if you think it stinks.

This is going to be a hard PG 13.

ParkerEvans What can I say? I just wanted to tell you how much your reviews mean. You seem to be getting where I'm going in both my fan fics, and I'm so grateful for your interest. When Khivar tells Liz that Brian don't understands her, it's more in his line of trying to making a play. Liz does play a very important part much to her chagrin for the Antarians. I don't know if I've portrayed this very well and it hopefully it will become clearer. Liz does have a bit of a guilty complex when it comes to Max. I think that is why she believes right of the bat that she was the lying woman because to her knowledge she did lie about the whole Kyle thing.

Larek lost someone very dear to his heart which is going to make his motives rather suspect at times. You're right on track with Brian. Let's just say that Max knows a lot more about Liz's life than she knows about his. However, this knowledge does cause him some problems. Serena wants to keep Liz at the house because she has some definite plans for her. You've nailed Seth right on. He has a lot of problems. The key is go to back and look at the fight. Compare who Talen has with him and who seems to be noticeably absent in Seth's life.

Kamyko16I love writing Liz and Khivar. It seems to come off better than my Liz and Max encounters unfortunately.

Sam-me, me( Max is back!!! Muhahaha…Of course it's not going to get to harmonious for a very long time , Julieanna, anonymous, Bri, Maria ( he he Serena's granddaughter she's coming. And let me say she's a real trip), Gigi246, Sweet like chocolate, Nesh, xEmmax, Kiki, Englishchik, Ana

I just wanted to thank everyone again for taking the time to read and review. It's basically what keeps me writing because I'm a huge review whore J

* * *

Chapter Six: Destiny's Fallout

Nerves flutter to life as my knees suddenly go weak.

This can't be happening to me.

Looking over my shoulder, I contemplate running up the stairs and hiding. There's no way Max would bother to look for me.

_I never loved her. _

Right doesn't care.

I don't care either.

Screw Max.

I smack my head in frustration. Those are two words that don't belong in the same sentence.

Two dusty boots step into the doorway connected to a pair of legs clad in faded jeans.

Tendons tighten in my neck.

Look up Liz.

Look at him dammit.

I can't.

I close my eyes in defeat.

"Dad," Seth launches himself off the stairs.

_"So what you would you say to him?" Brian asks lining up his shot with the cue. _

_"Say to whom?" _

_"The evil alien king," he hits the four and eight ball straight into the corner pocket. _

_"Nice shot." _

_"You're dodging my question." _

_"After all this time, there really isn't anything to say." _

_"Would it bother you to see him again?" _

_"Let's just say I rather be with you instead." _

_"Why?" comes the barely whispered question. _

_"You don't make me cry." _

_He misses his shot. _

I flash of bronze skin is all that I see before a crowd of people circle around him.

My stomach lurches as I remember his shyness.

Stepping off the stairs, I hear Max's voice launch into a language I can't even begin to understand. By his tone, he sounds rather pissed off. Obviously, he's gotten over the shyness factor.

Right Liz.

A lot of things change in eight years.

_Max, you do have a destiny. You just heard it. I can't stand in the way of it. _

Some things remain the same. My hand reflexively covers my heart.

"Are you mad at me hija?"

"It was bound to happen. There's an alien plague. He's an alien king. Seth is your alien godson." I turn slowly around to an apparently contrite Serena. However I'm not letting her off so easily. "We're going to have another little talk about honesty Serena. First, I want my cell phone."

"But.."

"No excuses," I interrupt her.

"Alright," she snaps her fingers. Almost immediately, my phone comes flying down the stairway into my waiting hand.

"Now I want answers, or I'm finding Brian. We're going to have sex, lots of it."

She makes a pained face. "I deserve that."

"You deserve a lot more, but I'm being nice. It must be the alcohol. I'm not making any promises when my buzz wears off. Did M--, the king of Antar send you after me on the plane?"

"No," she pauses, "funny how you still can't say his name after all these years."

"It's a riot. Then who sent you?"

The crowd shifts to reveal a steak of blonde hair.

"Seth sent me."

"Yeah right. I'm out of here." Weaving through the dinning room, I smack into Larek. "You. I'm revoking your favored alien status."

"I would have never sprung the two of them on you like she did. My mother set us both up."

"You help me get out of here. I'll call it even."

"It isn't safe Liz."

"I can't stay here. I just can't," I whisper. "Please."

"We can get out through the courtyard."

"Hijo," Serena huffs after us, "she shouldn't be going anywhere."

"Don't hijo me."

"Seth had a vision."

Larek grabs my arm, "Wait Liz. This better not be another con."

"It isn't. I promise."

Larek and I both eye her suspiciously. "Swear on my father's grave."

"I swear."

"I'm afraid she's telling truth," he groans. "What did he see?"

"A dark haired woman dead in the ocean."

"Mother, the majority of people on this planet have dark hair?"

"She had Nessa's medallion, and there's only one person on this Earth who has that."

I lift the pendent off my neck. "Then I'll just give it back to M--," I stomp my foot in frustration. "The king and leave."

"You can't. It's binding," Larek explains.

"Binding of what?"

"You're not ready to know," Serena answers.

"Sex Serena lots and lots of it. Hey I might even get pregnant. I've always wanted a daughter."

Her eyes grow large. "You supposed to help fight the evil within," She blurts crossing herself. "Ay dios mio. You're are going to get me kicked out of the order hija."

"The evil within. And that would be what exactly?"

A familiar blonde head comes around the corner. I can't get across the room the fast enough.

"Lizareyoualright? " Maria heaves.

"What are you doing here?" I ask taking in her tank top and pajama bottoms. "Did something happen?"

"Not if you don't count the large squiggle thing that tried to murder me in my bed."

"Maria de Luca. This is Serena and her son Larek."

"Larek as the one that used to possess Broody and take him all over the country. Khivar's here. Hell even Max is paying us all a little visit so stop time sharing other people's bodies and get your ass down here."

Serena throws her hands up in the air. "You are preaching to the band."

"Choir mom."

"Same thing. You don't know how many times I've been telling him that." She pinches his cheek, " I can't even remember what he looks like anymore."

Maria picks a carrot from a plate of vegetables on the table.

"He's as stubborn Michael. I've been on the boy for years to get his hair cut."

"Michael's alive," she stops in midchew.

"Yes, and I've been keeping very good care of him for you," she lowers her voice so I can no longer hear her.

"We need to talk." Larek guides me back into the kitchen. "I know this is difficult for you. Here drink this."

He gives me a glass of something, which slips from my shaking hands and on to the tiled floor.

"Damn it," I grit crouching down for the red shards.

Larek waves his hand over the pieces causing the cup to reform in my palm. "In thirty minutes, there is going to be a council meeting regarding the virus."

"I want in."

"Antar is not very conducive to the idea."

"Or is it their king that isn't?"

"You're able to read between the lines. That's lesson number one. No one is going to come out and tell you anything."

"I've notice that," I answer dryly.

"Forwardness will get you killed. He strokes his chin in thought. "As the governor of my planet, I can get you access. It all comes down to can you handle it?"

"Why can't you just give me whatever you have right now?"

"The council has to approve you."

"Approve me? There's a deadly plague outbreak, and you want to waste time going through the proper diplomatic channels."

"Lesson number two do not loose your temper. We have ways of doing things that cannot be circumvented. Open mindness is essential."

"Why are you helping me?"

He smirks getting up. "There is lesson number three. Nothing is exactly what it appears, and everyone has an ulterior motive."

"Helping me isn't going to get you any closer to Khivar."

He blinks momentarily before recovering. "Do not expect much from Max? It will be best to forget your personal relationship ever existed for the time being."

"I've already have."

"No, you haven't, and he hasn't either" Larek says softly before leaving me.

"You're wrong Larek," I whisper. "He never loved me."

A fit of laughter sounds before both Serena and Maria crash through the door.

Serena shakes an accusing finger at Maria, "handcuffs and whip cream."

"You have to use what's available believe me he wasn't complaining."

Serena chuckles holding her side. "I'm officially adopting both of you. The two of you are such a breath of fresh air. I hate my own people. They are such stiff asses."

Maria frowns.

"Tight," I correct studying the Mayan calendar on the empty Tequila bottle.

"Gracis. Anyway, there are always so serious about everything. Especially my son. He's such a kill joy. That's another one that needs to get laid. He's going to be my next project. You know anyone I can set him up with?"

Maria bursts out in hysterics. "You're a woman after my own heart."

Talen appears at the door.

"Excuse me duty calls," Serena explains following him out.

"I love that woman," Maria states.

"Watch it. She's extremely manipulating."

"It appears the alien abyss has snagged us once again. Are all these people in this house...you know... aliens?"

"I know they're all certifiable, and this is the freakiest night I've had in a very long time."

"Well my night has just been plain henky. I'm was up late watching Braveheart, because you know."

"I know."

She points to her eyes, "because we're here."

"Yeah, we're here Maria cut to the chase."

"Impatient much. Anyway, this huge giant tentacle thing appears in my living room. I'm not talking about I took off my invisible cloak and here I am kind of Harry Potter thing. It was definitely a Bewitched I wiggled my nose kind of appearance. The thing would have sucked my brains out if it hadn't been for Max."

"It was a Scion. They come up from the floors," a small voice comes from underneath the table.

I cringe. I don't need this right now.

Maria lifts up the tablecloth and peeks under. "Liz there's a kid underneath the table."

"There's no law that says I can't be here."

"Where are your parents kid?"

"My dad is busy."

Maria makes a slight squeak, and her head snaps back up. "Max's," she mouths.

"Yes." Taking a deep breath, I dip my head under. "What are you doing under there Seth?"

He glares at me. "Thinking how sad you must be since my dad never loved you."

"Great he takes after his mother."

"Her name is Tess," he says hotly.

"I know I had the special privilege of making her acquaintance."

"We'll she hated the both of you," he answers crawling out from under the table with a plane clenched in his fist," and I hate you to."

"You're a real..."

"Just ignore him, and he'll go away."

"You'd like that Liz then you could take my dad away from me."

I roll my eyes.

"Just because you don't have family doesn't mean you can steal mine."

Spinning around, I grab his arm hard.

_"STOP HURTING HER. YOU'RE BEING BAD," he grabs frantically at someone's ankles. _

Immediately I let go, and the flash disappears. His amber eyes study me for a long moment before taking off through the door.

"I don't understand that kid at all."

"He's a monster nuff said." Maria pulls a very large wooden spoon out from the drawer and swats the air with it. "Maybe we can smack him with this next time."

"He'll just burn it up with one of his fireballs."

"Fireballs eh? So much for corporeal punishment," she puts it away. "Have you figured out what he's doing walking around and breathing Earth's fine air?"

"With everything going on, I never even thought about that."

"So her royal whoreness was telling us all a huge whopper."

"It's possible Tess was mistaken."

"Or the skank wanted them back on Antar? Have you seen her?"

"No, but with my luck her curls will be bouncing into my view real soon," I grumble.

She opens a pot and checks inside. "Is this mole?"

"I think so."

She grabs a plate from the cupboard and starts heaping food on it. "This is culinary gold. My grandmother used to make it. It takes like days to prepare." Sitting down at the table, she scoops a brown spoonful into her mouth and sighs. "I love this woman." Her spoon pauses in midair. "Do you have a plan for when you meet Satan's father?"

"Seen Michael?"

"Today is about you. Tomorrow will be about me so stop being cagey."

"What was your question again?"

"So bitchey Lizzie has come out to play. Think you'll be able to say the Satan's father's name when you see him. Of course, he saved my life so I might have to downgrade him to jerk."

"I can't. Every time I try it just won't come out. What does that mean?"

"You know what it means. Where did I put that wooden spoon?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to use it to beat some sense into you. Do I have to remind you what he did to you?"

"We weren't even together Maria."

"I'm not talking about that. You had such an open heart Liz and now because of that jackass you've got more walls than Michael Guerin himself."

"You sound like Kyle."

"Why do you think he and every other guy breaks up with you? Your inability to commit," she answers.

I thread my fingers through my hair. "I really don't want to have this conversation right now."

"Fine. Stand up."

"Maria."

"Do it Parker." She orders. "Now you're going to say him name and then you're going back to the hotel to be with Brian. I'm talking about being in the biblical sense of the word, because that man has the potential to love you with the intensity that you deserve. I mean the looks that he gives you sometimes. Damn. He definitely wants to rip your clothes off and that's just want you need right now." She stands beside me. "I saw this on Oprah once. Now drop your head and sway back and forth."

"What?"

"Sway."

"Swaying."

"Now we're in a nice safe world where no psychotic, " her voice lowers, "alien fathers and their brats exists. Picture that beach you're always telling me about. Imagine the orange rocky cliffs and the aqua water. Are you imagining Liz? Now say it with me Mmmm."

"Mmmm," I buzz.

"Mmmaaaxx. Max." She squeals shoving me behind her. " Liz and I were just doing a bit of deep breathing. Helps relief tension," she gestures wildly.

The blood hammers against my ear drums. Remembering Larek's words, I force myself to step out from Maria.

I stifle a gasp.

Long brown hair reaches to his muscular shoulders. He's wearing it the same way as the version that came to visit me all those nights before.

I didn't change a thing.

Vaguely, I'm aware of Maria's hand closing around my own. She gives me a light squeeze.

A long silver scar stretches from his lip up to his eye. From the raised texture, it appears to be from a knife wound. It takes all my nerve not to cross the distance and hold him. His hardened features tell me that my sympathy wouldn't be welcomed.

Good God his eyes.

Icy knives prick my heart.

No longer do they speak to me or anyone else for that matter. An inky substance now pools in them blocking out any warmth.

His eyes look inhuman.

His eyes look like an alien.

"I need to talk to you now," the cyborg voice orders.

"Kay," I answer standing glued to the floor with Maria at my side. Four seconds in his presence, and I'm ready to run again.

"Alone."

"Max, Liz is a little ...."

"Did I ask you Maria?"

"Apparently the apple does not fall that far from the tree after all."

"What?" he snaps with irritation.

"You know your son, the fruit of your loins, is a brat."

"Liz, are you coming?"

His tone causes me to shake off my timidness. "No."

"No," he parrots as if not used to the word.

"You heard me. I haven't seen you in eight years, and you're barking commands at me."

"You're not going to the council meeting."

"Try and stop me. My day of taking orders from you or whatever variation of you that cares to grace me with its presence are over. I will not follow you around like some lap dog."

"Yeah, don't you get that at home already?" Maria adds. "Liz is being courted by an epidemiologist and your mortal enemy. She has prospects. What did Khivar offer you again? He cute?"

"Extremely. Good kisser to."

The room grows brighter.

"The thing he does with his tongue."

A loud pop sounds as the light fixture shatters plunging the room into darkness.

"Real mature Max."

Two muscular arms capture me and throw me over an equally impressive shoulder.

I try to push off his back, but his grip only tightens reducing all my ability to move. "Maria."

"Babe I do something if I could get by this green force field. You're a real dick Max. You know that," she mutters as the door close behind her.

"I hate you."

"I'm quite aware of that thanks. Consider this my way to ensure you don't run away from me again."

"Screw you."

"What a very interesting idea Liz?"

"It wasn't an invitation."

We pass a couple who barely give us a second look.

"This cavemen tactic a common thing for you now? I bet it gets Tess all hot and bothered."

"Never knew you were this fascinated with my sex life. Tsk Tsk. Brian not satisfying you? Maybe I should give him a couple of tips."

"Like you would know the first thing about it?" I spit as we enter a room.

Stopping, he slides me down his chest at a deliciously slow pace that causes my breasts to pass over every hard inch of his chest.

I shiver.

A mixture of sweet, peppermint aftershave, and something entirely of his own making assail my senses. I wet my lips. No man should smell this good.

His hand cups my swollen cheek, "Liz."

My name on his lips gives birth to a new form of torture.

I imagine him groaning it as he slides in and out of me. Our tangled arms and legs making it impossible to tell where I begin and he ends. And later, holding me close, it appears again in a soft declaration of love. One he mummers in that same honeyed tone that sends shivers through me at all that it promises.

My eyes open on the sight of his unreadable face.

Promise is no more.

He doesn't belong to me.

He never did.

His hand drops from my face, and the dream that threatened ensnare me fades away.

My attention lands on the door.

"Try it and you'll be sorry," he warns picking up a cup of something off the table. Taking a sip, he makes a face and puts it down. He waves his hand over the liquid causing steam to rise.

I touch my still swollen cheek. "What do you want?"

"A Spice Girls reunion tour. I always had a thing for the brunette. What was her name?"

"Posh."

"Could you sit down? Your pacing is making me nervous."

"Will you stop worrying about me running away? I don't run from anyone."

"Only me," a brief vulnerability creeps into his tone before he steadies it again.

An image of me stumbling from the pod chamber surfaces in my mind.

_"My son, you were the beloved leader of our people. I have sent with you your young bride." _

I slide into the couch.

An uncomfortable silence ensues.

I open my mouth to break it, but no sounds comes out as yet another change becomes apparent.

I have no idea how to talk to him anymore.

From his hardened eyes to his care worn face, he looks nothing like the boy who turned parking meters into giant sparklers and fractured my heart right down the center. In his place sits a stranger I know nothing about a man who lives while the boy exists only in memory right along with the girl who loved him more than life itself.

I smile a sad smile at least we'll always be together on some plane.

Curling my leg underneath me, I watch him slide a silver ring up and down on his finger.

The wrong finger.

"Care to tell me why you're so interested in my left hand?"

So the the battle begins. I lean forward, "I always thought you had extremely sexy hands. I used to imagine them at night trailing up my skin."

He chokes on his drink. "Funny Liz."

Too bad I was telling the truth.

"Why did you leave me that day at the pod chamber?" he asks seemingly out of no where.

And this time I'm choking. "It's in the past leave it there."

"It isn't the past for me," he growls. "I think I deserve an answer since I'm down here cleaning up the mess that you made."

"The mess that I made."

"You said that you loved me and then hours later you just turned around and ran, because you were too scared to accept me for what I am."

That wasn't it all.

"Maybe if I'd been Sean de Luca you would have hung around a bit longer."

"Go to hell."

"I've been there thanks to you," he hisses.

I swallow once again at the sight of his scar.

"Is there anyone else you plan to fix me up with? Maria perhaps? Next time you want to play God with my life don't."

Angrily, I get up from the couch. "YOU and your future version were as much of part of what happened as I was. Do you have any idea how it felt to listen to you tell me that we were married but if I put Tess in some slutty shirt it would be enough to destroy whatever you felt for me? If I hadn't played God you wouldn't have... your son...so I think you can cut me some slack." I cross my arms around my chest, "Where did you make love to her?

"Don't ask question you don't want the answers to?" he slams his cup on the table.

"Or are they answers you just don't want give me?" I demand refusing to get sidetrack. "I bet there were candles, and afterwards, you wrapped your arms around her and gave her the same speech you gave me in the van. What was it? If my life ends tomorrow or fifty years my destiny is with you."

"Stop it. You don't understand."

"Help me then."

He hesitates, which breaks my already fragile patience. "Whatever, I don't care. You have your family, and I'm with someone that actually knows me."

"Why do you think that is Liz?" Something burns in his face that looks almost akin to jealousy.

"I don't have time for your possessive tendencies," I head for the door.

"And yet again, I get to see your back."

I flick him off.

As quick as lighting he pins me to wall. The skin on skin contact triggers an ache in the exact spot where his hand marked me all those years ago. Alternating between dull and sharp, it twists its way through my very body. My bones shriek, yelling for him to make me his all over again. NO!!!!! I DO NOT WANT HIM!!!

"Let go of me now," I sneer my lips a feather's breathe from his own.

"Why did you leave?" he demands right back at me.

"Why did you screw Tess?

His adam's apple bobs up and down.

"And don't give me that I love her but not like I love you speech. What the hell does that mean anyway? I was you guinea pig until someone of your own species came along. Heck I even helped you find her so the two of you could go off in your spaceship and breed. Yet am I free of you? No, you give me this nice necklace that still somehow binds me to you and all your psycho friends."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't keep you out of it. I tried," he says as he regains his controlled demeanor and releases me. "As for my numerous children, I have one who I have will be having a little chat with shortly."

"One or a hundred, I don't care. I want you out of my life," I state passionately trying to provoke a response from his new pod person persona.

"Then explain how attending a council meeting that I preside over is going to achieve such an objective?"

Crap he got me. I scrunch up my face in frustration. Khivar where are you? At least, I can outthink him.

"You're not going to the meeting, and it's final. You can leave," he waves a dismissive hand.

I give him my best glare.

He groans, "I know. You don't do docile. I'm trying to protect you from this world."

"Fine," I give a little bow.

"Please don't do that."

"You are a king aren't you." I'm several steps out the door when I deliver my coup d'état . "I guess I'll just have to ask my special friend Khivar more about the virus next time I see him."

An electronic pop sounds in my wake. Looking back, I see the room bathed in darkness.

"You keep that up. We aren't going to have any lights left in the house," Larek says stepping out from the shadows.

I wink. "I'm just trying to stir his pot a little."

"More like causing it to boil over."

"He's so shut off. I doubt that I could have the much of an impact either way. "

"The question is do you want to have an impact?"

"If I show up at this meeting, can he force me to leave?" I ask changing the subject.

"No. You're now an integral part of our organization, and he knows it."

I lift up my necklace.

"You're catching on."

"Are you going to tell me how and why I'm an integral part?"

"No."

"Larek."

"Stop giving me that face. It isn't going to work."

"How about this face?"

"Still now working."

"You're a cold, cold alien. Is that a smile I see?"

"I don't smile," he answer gruffly as we stop in front of two wooden doors. "Now, they will probably be rather antagonistic to you."

"What else is new?"

"Max will be the worst, because it is what they will be expect of him."

"Why?"

"You're a threat to his control over the council."

"Huh?"

He smoothes the hair around my face and hands me a small microchip. "Put this behind your ear. It's a translator." He sizes me up "you're going to be fine."

"You don't really sound all that sure."

"I just don't like seeing you upset," he admits. "I think it has something to do with the size of your thelius."

"Excuse me?"

A slight blush tinges his cheeks. "Our vision is a lot more sensitive than with humans. Each person has this presence that surrounds them, which we can read. Yours is rather expressive among other things. It's why Seth ran away from you. He couldn't take it."

"That and the fact he hates me."

"There's only one person he hates in this world, and you're not her." He turns the golden doorknobs.

I stop him. "What do I do in there? I don't know the customs or people or any of it. He's right. I shouldn't be here. I'm in over my head."

You know the science. As for the other parts, I'll walk you through it.

I touch my temple. "You're telepathic. I heard you in my head. How does it work?"

The corners of his lip twitch upwards. "One thing at a time Liz." He offers me his arm.

I take it tentatively, and he pushes open the door.

* * *

I know that Max is a little off, but I figure it has to do with being surrounded by aliens who expect to be a big bad demanding king as such he's having trouble breaking out of it. I don't know what do you all think?


	7. Nothing and Everything

I have a question for all of you. I'm thinking about uping the rating to R on this. Yeigh or neigh. I know a lot of you said cut out the sex crazed parts between Max and Liz. I was sort of going for the idea that despite all that separates them they still are quite attracted to each other. I kind imagined that after eight years the sexual tension would be a little thick. Anyway thoughts and comments are very appreciated.  
  
ParkerEvanss Write as much as you need to. I have to tell you that your reviews always get me amphed up to write another chapter. Glad you like the blonde hair. Tess is around and she will be causing some serious chaos. You've really got Seth down as well.  
  
I don't know, but as long as the real him emerges sometimes and especially with her in the future, I kind of like this him for now.  
  
It will, but slowly.  
  
Liz is a little too angry to pick up the hints that Max is dropping, but when she does. Max better look out.  
  
Danielle, R, Girlscamate 24, Ana (there will be no reconciliation in the near future) How2oogle101  
  
Chaosti I'll do anything for cookes ( When I write, I try to like all the characters, which is a little difficult when I'm writing Tess ( With Khivar, there is no trouble at all. I have to really stop myself from turning this into Kh / Liz fic. Maybe after this, I'll write a short one.  
  
Liz4Eva Liz is going to put the beat down on Miss. Harding along with a very unlikely ally.  
  
Lexie M Liz will be kicking the Gerbil's ass and Max is acting to some degree. Just kind of think how he was in Season Two.  
  
Sugarbear503 Glad you're enjoying it.  
  
ElenaKateBenson Sometimes you just have to cuss ( Would you like more of Surfacing really? I felt that the last chapter really sucked. Only two people actually left a review, it made me think I had jumped the shark on it big time.  
  
Sam-Me Your spec is right on target.  
  
Julieana Do you really want me to update Surfacing? I guess I'll go try. I got a little disheartened on it. Convergence is so much easier to write for some reason.

It starts out a little weird so bear with me. It's a little more insight into Liz's character.

* * *

Chapter 7: Nothing and Everything  
  
A ceiling fan ticks furiously over me. Its brown blades cut frantically through the dry air. Despite all the work, it hardly rustles my hair or the vase of roses sitting in front of me, because sometimes all the effort in the world can still cause you to come up empty.  
  
My heart constricts.  
  
_"Have you ever been in love Liz?" her innocent child's voice asks me.  
  
"Once."  
  
'What was it like?"_

I slide her leather bracelet up and down my wrist.  
  
_"When he kissed you saw stars, like real ones?"  
  
"I felt like I was flying."  
  
"You miss him."_  
  
I clinch my fist.  
  
_I pull back the curtain._  
  
_"Sierra I brought the book. You're going to love it."  
  
"Liz," she smiles. "I've missed you."  
  
The book falls from hands. A dime shaped legion stands out on her skin._  
  
What if it happens again, politics was never my strong suit. I'm never going to get them to give me their information.  
  
"_If you would just allow us to use AZT in minster. It would stop mothers from spreading it to their children during birth."  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you Ms. Parker? My party condones the use of the drug. It is toxic to the fetus."  
  
"And Aids isn't?"  
  
"Eating garlic has been found to be far more beneficial than your drugs. You Americans kill me the way you're constantly thrust your head into our people's business. My country has survived slavery, European and it will survive this epidemic now this meeting is over. We did not need help from outsiders."  
  
I pull out her picture from my purse. "Look at it. She's nine years old. Her father was a trucker who gave it to her mother who gave to her. They're both dead so it falls to me to explain what those funny spots that keep popping up all over her face are.  
_  
My eyes snap back to the couple with glassy eyes and Larek hovering around them. I'm just spoiling for a fight with these arrogant aliens on if only they would get their minds down her. "Are we going to have this meeting or am I going to sit around with the stoners all night? If not, I do have places I need to be."  
  
He halts his examination. "They're stuck in transit."  
  
"Yeah, well they've been in transition for the last thirty minutes."  
  
He arches his eyebrows, "is there something wrong? You blanked out there for a moment."  
  
"Why are they stuck?"  
  
"Seth I imagine."  
  
"Then his father should spank him until he unsticks them."  
  
"You don't like him do you?"  
  
"He doesn't exactly inspire warm and tingling feelings in me especially when he's spying on me." I get up from the chair and begin to pace "now he's holding everything up. The virus could be an epidemic right now."  
  
"It isn't. We still have time and as for Seth holding things he isn't doing it on purpose. When he gets a vision, he creates this energy field which makes it impossible for the master to connect to the vessel."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"We call the people we inhabit vessels. Kathana and Tharo had control, but they lost it. Seth kicked them out of their connection."  
  
"I never realized that he is so powerful."  
  
"He's powerful in all the wrong ways," he answers esoterically. A thoughtful silence settles over him.  
  
"Can all of you take over bodies like this?"  
  
"No, it's extremely difficult. It takes a huge amount of control not to get completely sucked into the vessel's memories."  
  
"You can access their memories. Don't you think that's a little intrusive?"  
  
"It's more like they float at the edge of my conscious and come into focus in response to certain stimuli."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"When you inhabit a mind, you form a connection. The vessels memories and feelings become yours on a subconscious level."  
  
"So you actually become them on some level."  
  
"You should know he wasn't spying on you. His first memories are of hiding underground. Enclosed spaces are comforting, which is ironic considering Max refuses to go near them." "  
  
"He's claustrophobic?"  
  
"Very."  
  
"Did Khivar do that to him?"  
  
"Liz."  
  
Glancing down at the cherry oak table, I picture Max's bloodied face and all the possible methods used to get it that way. "I'm not some shrinking violet that needs to be protected."  
  
"I would never presume that of you. What I do know is very little, because Max has never told anyone the particulars."  
  
"How long did it last?" my voice hitches.  
  
"It was two years before they escaped. Isabel and Michael came out relatively unscathed, but it was never about them to begin with. Max had to adapt and adapting meant shedding certain human characteristics for Antarian ones."  
  
I press my lips together.  
  
"However, Khivar's actions did have some unforeseen consequences. A binding was placed over all four of the royals' minds. It served to block out their predecessor's memories. Ideally, the wall is supposed to lift gradually to prevent any one of them from being swamped with too much stimuli. Khivar destroyed this blockage in Max. However, it enabled to regain full access to all his powers and memories from before. Michael and Isabel have yet to."  
  
"He remembers everything," I repeat. He remembers Ava?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
An overwhelming need to destroy something grips me. My rage turns on the roses. Pulling a flower out of the bunch, I study its white head for a moment.  
  
The color that absorbs nothing and is forever lacking.  
  
"I'm sure Tess is thrilled by that." Wrapping my hand around the flower, I squeeze ignoring the sting in my skin.  
  
_My destiny is with you._  
  
I squeeze harder.  
  
_"I couldn't make it work Brian." Angry hot tears stream down my face. "I looked into her eyes, and everything, and it just didn't work. I know he gave the gift to me. I can sense it in her. I just can't make it go away."_  
  
"Do you have something against Antar's planetary flower?"  
  
"What?" My hand springs to reveal mutilated petals stained a bright red color.  
  
"I've often wondered about Max's obsession with them. I should have known it had something to do with you. It's oddly symbolic in a way making a flower that can't even grow on Antar his symbol."  
  
Several drops of blood drip down my wrist.  
  
"Do you want me to heal that for you?"  
  
I wipe my hand against my jeans. "No, it's what I get for being childish.  
  
"You want childish. I never went outside after dark for a whole year, because the stars reminded me too much of....," he stops abruptly. "I better go and see about Seth in case he's having a bad vision. Will you be alright alone for a moment?"  
  
Yet, he's out the door before I even get my answer out.  
  
"You think, Kathana, after sixty years he'd be over it," a man's voice sounds sadly behind me.  
  
I whip around to the couple whose eyes are no longer vacant.  
  
"He's half human Tharo. What do you expect? They are forever over romanticizing their offspring. It isn't like he couldn't have more."  
  
Bitch.  
  
Tharo gives me the once over. "So who do we have here?"  
  
"More like a what," she answers. "I'd venture that this would be Max's little human pet."  
  
"Why don't you go back to your Courtney Love impression?"  
  
A momentary bout of confusion crosses her features only to be replaced with a dawning understanding. "How dare you? I'm the Queen of Creusa not some trampy drugged out singer." A purple bolt appears in her hands.  
  
Swallowing, I take a step back.  
  
"Do you think because you have inkling of power that you're on the same footing as us? You will never be one of us."  
  
"And here I was looking forward to being the treasure of your alien club and learning the secret hand shake."  
  
"You are an abomination. I know for certain that if Max had it to do over again he would have let you die on that floor."  
  
I exhale sharply as a simmering pain throbs in my stomach. Burning its way up my chest, it feels like I've been shot. I stumble backwards into a pair of muscular arms and almost immediately the sensation ceases. In its place, a comfy warm snuggles around me.  
  
"You are going to have to forgive her Kathana. She hasn't learned the finer points of respect or obedience."  
  
My eyes grow large. I'm in Max's arms. Oh hell. I struggle against him, but his grip only tightens.  
  
"But what do you expect from a human?" he adds.  
  
The three of them all laugh.  
  
Kathana's burst disappears.  
  
He spins me around to him. "Now why don't you say goodbye to Kathana and Tharo."  
  
"Yes master, I'll blink myself straight back to my bottle right away."  
  
"What is she talking about Max?"  
  
"Excuse us," he shoves me out the room and closes the door. "Could you be anymore reckless?"  
  
"That depends, could you be anymore of an asshole? Apparently, you were too busy fantasizing about Tess when Mr. Taylor explained the finer points of hybridization." I teeter forward and his arms find their way back around my waist.  
  
"Just remember sweetheart, this asshole kept you from kissing the floor."  
  
"Here I thought chivalry was dead." I grit against my swimming vision.  
  
"You have no idea how chivalrous I've been to you and what it has cost me."  
  
"Don't do me any favors."  
  
"Will you stop fighting me for two seconds and tell me what is wrong? You can barely stand up Liz." A concern enters his voice that sounds almost like the Max off of old and something thaws in me. "You're going to tell me."  
  
And freezes again. "I'm drunk," I say purposely slurring my words together.  
  
"You're not drunk," he states bluntly.  
  
"How do you know? Have you ever seen me drunk? I'm quite sloppy."  
  
"Fine. I don't care. Stumble around and see if you can slice up your other hand."  
  
How does he know about that?  
  
"But you are staying out of the council meeting."  
  
A throat clears behind us.  
  
Max's head snaps up over me.  
  
"Liz is an envoy to Nausica," Larek answers, "as such you can't deny her access."  
  
His eyes turn stormy. "Do you even know where Nausica is?"  
  
"Yeah, outer space." I pat his bicep and feel his muscles twitch under my fingertips. "You can't win them all slugger."  
  
"This isn't a game," he hisses.  
  
"Nothing with you ever is."  
  
Wrapping his hand around the pedant, he pulls me in closer to him." Just so you know your new best friend is using you to get to Khivar. " His warm breath puffs causing Goosebumps to rise on my skin.  
  
I bit down on my lip to steady my thoughts. "My new best friend actually showed up while Khivar was smacking me around so right now he has a lot more credence than you. And besides," my knees brushes his legs," isn't using others the number one rule in politics."  
  
"I would say rule number one is don't start things you won't be able to finish." With scorching fingers, he traces the line of my collarbone.  
  
I let out a ragged breath as a dull ache flutters to life in me.  
  
His full lips smirk upwards.  
  
I imagine them coasting down the arch of my neck. My eyes grow large, not again. "I'll take your comments into consideration," I say primly desperately trying to ignore my racing heart.  
  
"You do that," his hands slide away. Yet, I can still feel his arms hovering protectively behind me. "You get into trouble in there you are on your own."  
  
"Blah. Blah. Blah. You're like a broken record."  
  
"I wouldn't have to be a broken record if you would listen to me."  
  
"Maybe I would listen to you to more if you weren't a condescending ass."  
  
"I could have your head cut off for that."  
  
"You like my hair too much to do that," my face turns red. Did I just say that?  
  
A hearty laugh filters through the air. "Your face, Max, is priceless." Serena holds her side. "I wish I had a camera."  
  
I glance up at Max, but his mask like features show me nothing.  
  
"Where's Larek?"  
  
"He decided to give you some private time while...what does Miranda call it? Suck head."  
  
"Suck face," Larek answers coming around the corner.  
  
I giggle while Max remains stoic.  
  
"Glad to see you've progressed through adolescence Liz."  
  
"Lighten up."  
  
Kathana sticks her blonde head out the doorway. "Max," she says in an overly saccharine voice and bats her blue eyes. "Would it be possible for us to begin? We are in desperate need of your guidance."  
  
Besides me, Serena makes a face. "Ho," she coughs.  
  
"Did you say something Serena?"  
  
"Just clearing my throat darling. When you get my age, the phlegm is always a flowing."  
  
"And tell me, how is that wonderful son of yours?"  
  
"Still hating your fake ass," Serena snickers behind them.  
  
Max silences her with a steely glare and begins to speak with Kathana.  
  
Serena turns to me. "It's like I told you no sense of humor. Hija," She presses her hand to my forehead. "You're feverish. Did she say something to upset? Don't listen to her." Her voice drops to a whisper," she been trying to get into Max's pants for years. She wants to be the next Queen of Antar if you could believe that."  
  
"What about Tess?"  
  
"He didn't tell you? It's not like my plans have no rhyme or reason to them. I just didn't pull them from the sky. Everything would be so much easier if people would just do what I tell them to do. He was supposed to tell you about it. I'm going..."  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"Burning in hell, with Medea, I hope."  
  
"Serena."  
  
An arm spears me away from her. "And here I thought you weren't concerned with the past Liz?"  
  
"Will you stop dragging me around?"  
  
"Eat more then. You wanted to be included in the meeting so I'm including you." He shoves me into the room and closes the door behind us.  
  
"Gee thanks."  
  
Tharo narrows his eyes at me, "its back."  
  
"She," Larek corrects him pulling out the chair for me, "is an envoy from Nausica as such I would appreciate it if you would show her the respect she deserves."  
  
"Easy, I wasn't aware of her position."  
  
"Her position is meaningless. Why don't you run back to your little humans and leave the real work to us?" another male's voice joins in. I turn to see Talen and a man who appears to be his father. "It's interesting you would designate your good friend Larek as her patron. Don't think I don't see want your doing Max? You want her power for yourself. This..this thing" he motions to me, "isn't going to make up for where you son is sorely lacking."  
  
I wait for Max to say something, anything in Seth's defense, but nothing comes.  
  
"He will forever be his mother's child."  
  
A horrified expression crosses both Kathana and Tharo faces while the vein in Larek's forehead starts to bulge.  
  
"Say what you well about Tess, but at least, she wasn't picking on child that's half her size."  
  
He whips around to me. "Do you have any idea who I am?"  
  
"No, and I don't care but I have sneaking suspicion you're going to entertain me with all the fine details."  
  
Talen's mouth freezes in an O shape while his father looks momentarily flustered.  
  
{You accomplished the impossible. You've thrown Sinon for a loop.} A mental chuckling follows, which takes me a second to recognize as Larek  
  
Telepathy, aliens, plagues. What did I do to deserve this?  
  
"If you would sit down Liz, I'd like to start this so I could get back to my sorely lacking son who happened to save your life Sinon and the lives of your family."  
  
"We would have stopped the revolt and caught Khivar if it hadn't been for her." His eyes narrow in on me. "She has the evil in her. It's only a matter of time before she joins forces with him."  
  
"I have to disagree with that," Tharo replies. "It's something entirely different. She feels and blames herself for too much."  
  
"Liz's humanity is not the issue," Max snaps.  
  
"At least I still have it," I mumble.  
  
Larek covers my hand, "the issue is that she is a meaglan ."  
  
"I'm telling you she isn't. I was seventeen year old kid when I healed her. I never consciously made the decision to choose her."  
  
"You didn't have to. Seth did it for you."  
  
"That has nothing to do it with it."  
  
"It has everything to do with it."  
  
"Alright, I think I've been really patient, but could you please tell me what the hell you are both talking about?"  
  
"You need to test her Max before Khivar does it instead," Larek warns.  
  
"No."  
  
"Do you think you can just ignore Nessa? I did, and you know what it cost me."  
  
I push my chair away from the table and stand up. "I'd like to say it's been fun, but it hasn't."  
  
Larek grabs my wrist.  
  
"Look, I came here for information about the virus not to listen to the five of you bitch back and forth at each other and talk about some obscure calling that you refuse to tell me about. " I turn to Max, "You can have your lucky charm back." I lurch forward as a pressure weighs down on my lungs. Clawing at my neck, my fingers clink against a heated metal collar. "It's the medallion," I gasp. "Get it off."  
  
Its hold tightens and my legs turn to jelly under me.  
  
I'm vaguely aware of Max lowering me to the floor. "Get Seth now." He tells somebody.  
  
Hot burst of pain jabs into my eyeballs. "Make it stop please," I beg Max.  
  
Any minute he'll put his hand on and make it stop.  
  
Except, he doesn't.  
  
A pair of two very different hands touches me instead.  
  
My shoulders tense.  
  
"If you start convulsing, I don't want you choking on your tongue being that yours seems to be the only one that can shut Sinon up," Kathana explains.  
  
My head lurches back in her lap.  
  
"Help me. Do you... hate me... that much?"  
  
He doesn't get a chance to answer.  
  
A bright yellow explosion blossoms before my eyes. Streaks of red and orange suffocate out all other colors.  
  
Glass shatters.  
  
Blood spills across a wooden floor.  
  
A shrill scream sounds.  
  
My scream.  
  
Flesh curls away from bone. I stand naked and she is everywhere. Ripping, breaking, and tearing. I am shredded.  
  
"You have always had everything. Let's see how you enjoy having nothing. Maybe, we won't be so different after all."  
  
"I tried daddy, but she was just too big. I couldn't stop her."  
  
"Damn it Liz, let me in. I love you, and it isn't going to end like this. You're going to go on to have the husband, the kids, the dog, everything, but you have to let me in."  
  
Just when I think my brain is going to explode, the sound bites stop.  
  
The fiery red gives birth to one shimmering sapphire blue eye. "I've been waiting for you."  
  
I'm possibly in a comma, hearing things that never happened, and now, an eyeball is talking to me. I'm ready for my padded cell.  
  
"Aren't you going to entertain me with your dazzling wit?"  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"She speaks."  
  
"What were you trying to do, kill me?"  
  
"If I wanted you dead, we wouldn't 't be having this conversation. Here's a bit of advise. Keep my medallion on. I didn't dream walk your friend to get you to wear it for nothing."  
  
"Stay away from Maria."  
  
"And thus your greatest fear rears its ugly head."  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"You should tell Max about it. He'd understand why you left him that day."  
  
"Does this meeting have a point?" A tepid green presence shines down on me.  
  
Her eye looks upwards. "Hello Seth. He could have done so much good. " A bit of water appears in her orb.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"His scales were tipped the very moment he was conceived."  
  
"Where was that?" I grit.  
  
"And there you go asking the wrong questions again."  
  
"Then what should I be asking?"  
  
"How and why?"  
  
"Like that's really an avenue I want to dwell on."  
  
"You two have a lot in common you know. You've both been brushed by the same evil."  
  
"What's a meaglan?"  
  
"Something you're not but may yet will become. Your switch has yet to be thrown."  
  
"Who throws it?"  
  
"The King of Antar."  
  
"There seems to be some debate to who that is."  
  
"I can see why he likes you." It winks. "I want to show you something." Its pupil enlarges and scenes start to play in it.  
  
"STOP IT!!!! STOP IT !!!! STOP IT!!!!"  
  
"You tell Max he'll better fall into line, or I'll show you every little sordid thing he's keeping from you and believe me there's many. Go to Chiapas. The government wasn't down there looking for insurgents. They were looking for something entirely different."  
  
The green light intensifies, and reality rushes back into me.  
  
Kathana's cheap perfume  
  
The small hand in mine  
  
Maria's hysterical voice  
  
Serena helping me off the floor  
  
Yet, those sensations are meaningless because all that matter is his face.  
  
A face that houses the soul that I thought at one time was my mate to be young and stupid again.  
  
A weird noise leaves my lips, and it takes me a second to realize I'm laughing. I look at his zombie face wanting him to hold me and being repulsed by the feeling at the same time.  
  
"So help me God, you better let me go this instant spaceboy." Maria pushes past Sinon and Tharo. "You're freaking aliens with super powers," she tells the staring men, "you can't tell me you haven't seen this before."  
  
I press my palm to my aching head but remove it just as fast when I feel the liquid.  
  
"Tros withdraws it rejection."  
  
"As does Dardinmus. Ms. Parker you'll have everything we have on the virus and Khivar within the hour."  
  
"Well if all the kids are doing it, you can count Creusa in as well."  
  
"That's just great. You all nearly killed her to prove...What the hell we're you all proving anyway?" Maria points at Max. "You are in my book big time buddy. You just stood there like some zombie why she's writhing all over the floor. Don't you have anything to say? Whatever, I give up. Liz you're going upstairs to rest."  
  
"I just need to sit down for a little while."  
  
"You can sit down upstairs now move it." She stops to ruffle Seth's hair. "You saved the day kid."  
  
"I just did it because my dad told me," he shrugs of her hands.  
  
"Yeah, but now we're here now," she points to her eyes.  
  
"You're very weird."  
  
"I actually prefer the term eccentric."  
  
Looking over my shoulder, I see shattered glass and eleven scorched white roses.  
  
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust We now commit the souls of Nancy and Jeff Parker to the earth.  
  
My hands enclose around the medallion that is no longer wrapped my throat.  
  
"You should know that Nessa can be a little pissy at times," a man says to me, "and she always has an agenda behind everything she shows people."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You have no idea who I am do you?"  
  
"Um.."  
  
He smirks.  
  
Michael." I throw my arms around him. "You're alright. You're not dead. They all die," I mutter.  
  
Awkwardly, he pats my head.  
  
"Is Isabel alright?"  
  
"Yes. I imagine she's on quite a power trip as we speak."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Max left her in charge."  
  
I wince and let go of him.  
  
"What did Nessa show you Liz?"  
  
Nothing and everything.

* * *

Well? 


	8. Lost

I think I'm going to up this to R in the future. I just wanted to let anyone know because filters the R rated stories out of the general updates.

ParkerEvanss I totally agree with you about love scenes. I really hate when people just jump into them. It works sometimes, but I just don't see M / L doing it. Despite their sexual tension, they are two very rational people. Tess role is quite interesting and she is going to be making her presence known very shortly. Seth is like Anakin Skywalker. He is very powerful in some aspects but lacking in others. I'm glad that you like the white roses. It's my hint that Max has not forgotten Liz at all.

Something is happening to Liz that began in Vietnam. There's a whole backstory there that I will be getting into in this chapter. Liz did something that started all of this up.

Lexie M Thanks. I'm glad that you like Liz / Max relationship at the moment. I sort of want them to come off as this powder keg that can explode at any moment unless they find away to come to terms with what they mean to each other.

Chaosti Maria is Maria. She can find her way to anything J

Guest Type Person This is M/L fic . No Liz Khivar loving but Khivar hasn't really gotten the memo on that. He's going to continue his attempts to get Liz.

Sweet Like Chocolate Patience. Answers are coming sort of.

Liz Evans Everything that happened up until Departure happened. So as of now, Alex is dead. Tess is evil ---super freaky evil---, Max still loves Liz but he's protecting himself. Have faith this will be a dreamer fic. It's just going to talk a little time. Only a day has passed in the story.

JeNsEnS wifey ChAdZ lover Tess is around. What you really have to ask yourself is why does she not seem to be around the other aliens? Your posts crack me up.

Alyanah BAshipper, Kilara, Stephanie, Val, Danielle, MaxandLizlover Thanks for reviewing and sticking with this. I know it's hard to follow. I'm still get the knack of writing clearly.

Bri Liz's past illness has a lot to do with the story. Miranda is coming but it's going to be a little tricky to spot her at first.

ElenaKateBenson Ear aches stink. I used to love taking the medicine that taste like bubblegum for it. It's some like amoxacillian. I was really sad when I got to big for the liquid and they made me take the pills. It sucks to grow up. I'm going to go back and work on Surfacing. I just thought it had jump the shark and no one wanted to read it.

Quotes: It's Too Late It's Too Bad

Lyrics: Usher's Confession Part 2

* * *

Chapter Eight: Lost

The faint glow from the television lightens the darken room. Waves of shadows travel over the popcorn ceiling.

Maria's spoon scrapes against an ice cream cartoon. She gestures to the set. "I don't see why Romano and Julia don't admit that they want each other. I mean it's so obvious."

"Julia thinks Romano is with Theresa."

"Liz babe. It's so obvious he isn't. Look how he's always touching her when they're fighting. Her hair, her neck. He wants her bad. Get it on already." Maria shouts in encouragement.

Romano grabs Julia by the wrist and shoves her up against the wall. Breathing harshly, they both stare at each other.

"Oh baby, it's coming. Tell her Romano."

Silence ensues.

Julia pushes Romano off her and walks away from him. The telenovela fades to black, and the credits start to roll.

"Like always I get no closure. Freaking soaps. The lack of communication kills me."

"Like people are actually going around screaming I love you from the rafters."

"Michael did," she answers softly.

"WHAT." I roll over onto my side. "You're just telling me this now."

"Well I was waiting until we discussed what happened tonight. You know. I share. You share otherwise known as having a heart filled conversation."

"You're blowing it out of proportion." Drop it Maria. Drop it. I chant in mantra.

"Blowing it out of proportion. You were reenacting scenes from the Exorcist. You were thrashing all over the floor, and Max just stood there. You blew up a vase and you looked like you were going to catch the entire room on fire until the kid calmed you down."

"What did Seth do exactly?"

"He just held your hand and said something to you. I think it was in Antarian."

"He probably said F you, and I hope you don't wake up lady."

"No, he was upset. He kept talking to Max, but Max seemed to be just as out of it as you were. Liz what did you see?"

Hands traveling down a slender back.

A blonde curly head locked with a dark brown one.

The answer to a question that has been plaguing me for years.

And something else. Something I really don't get, but disturbs me all the same.

There's something in Brian that shouldn't be there.

"I don't want to talk about it," I swallow.

"Liz. I know this is tough with Max and his kid but hiding from it isn't going to make it go away."

"I have to because there are just too many things on my plate right now. What I saw isn't relevant to the current crisis." I glance down at my watch. Where are those stupid files? "Tell me about you and Michael."

"Are you trying to distract me?"

A body writhes on the payment. Blood and saliva spill from the mouth.

"I need to be distracted Maria."

"Just so you know I'm giving you a reprieve. I'm not dropping this."

I squeeze her hand in thanks.

"I sort of spoiled the story by telling you the ending. Anyway, I'm sitting with Serena. Michael came right through the doorway. My head froze. You know when you drink something cold really fast. That's what it felt like. I was speechless babe. When have I," she points to her chest, "Maria Alejandra De Luca ever been speechless. I'd thought about him for so long and there he was. His grooming habits still leave much to be desired, but that was never the appeal to begin with," her eyes twinkle in a way that I haven't seen in years. A faint color tinges her cheeks.

I'm jealous. The love of her life came back to her and mine came back a stranger. I can't even remember what it feels like to be in love. No, I can't remember what it felt like to be in love with Max. I should have never burned my journal.

"He's going to leave Antar and come back after this thing with Khivar is settled."

"That's great."

"No, it's weird. Out of all them, he was the one that always wanted to go home. It gets stranger." She scratches her head. "He walked through the door and told me he loved me with Serena in the room. I mean straight out of the blue. That's not normal Liz. He was always about being the wall or some crap like that. Where did the Michael Guerin I know go?"

"He grew up."

"He said he's seen how fragile life is, and he isn't going to waste time not going after what he wants."

"What did you say?"

I smacked him." How dare he come down here and tell me he loves me." Her hands gestures become erratic. "He completely changed the rules without even consulting me. What was I supposed to do?"

"Oh, I don't know. Tell him you love him back that every guy you date you compare to him."

"I do not."

"Really."

"Sometimes, ok more like all the time but that's because the bastard ruined me between the visions and the one hour" her mouth stops in an O shape.

"One hour what?"

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, I discovered some rules are still in place. See." She rolls down the neck of her shirt to show several impressive hickies. "Make out and ask questions later. Kind of nice to know that some things haven't changed. It gives me some consistency. What am I going to do?" she groans. " He left just like... my dad. I know he didn't have choice, but he still did it. How do I know it's not going to happen again if Max knocks up some other brood and he needs him back or something or he gets tired of me and wants an alien chick."

"You don't."

"Thanks Liz. I was looking for a little sweetness and light."

"Just hear me out. Bad things happen, but it doesn't me you take all your chips off the table and refuse to play."

"Reaaaallllly," she gives me a pointed look.

"I play."

"With whom?" She props her head on her hand and look of rabid curiosity dawns on her, "and was there any hot and sweaty play going on in Vietnam? Maybe a game of strip poker."

"I thought we were talking about you and Michael."

"Sue me, I have a short attention span."

" I'll see about getting you some Ridlin for that."

"HAHAHAHA!!! You're so funny."

"Your paths crossed again for a reason."

"Yeah, Khivar decided to kill everyone." She twists a strand of hair around her finger. "I mean it's why they're here."

"Yes, but he didn't have to tell you he still loved you."

Her lips pucker up.

" You need to take the chance but take it slow. It's been eight years, and he's definitely different now. I didn't even recognize him. I mean he was...nice to me. He was never nice to me."

"You used to scare him."

"What?"

" It was your openness. He once said you were fearless from Michael that's a huge complement. You know about this slow thing. Here's the problem. The thing is I sort of want to jump his bones right now."

"Wait."

"We can all be dead in two weeks. I should be getting with the loving why I still have a pulse. According to Serena, Creusa is pretty much wiped out and the others are on their way. It hasn't hit Antar yet."

"Why would Khivar go after Creusa and not Antar first? He baffles me. When I kissed him..."

"Hold the phone you actually kissed Khivar. You little slut."

"I was doing it for information. It's not like I'm attracted to him. He did say he'd kill Tess for me."

"Who is surprisingly MIA?"

"Here whereabouts are not my problem."

"If you knew she wasn't in the picture would you and Max.."

"Two words. Hell no. I would have to be certifiable."

"He does have a lot of baggage with the kid and all." She touches the pendant. "I shouldn't have ever insisted that you wear that thing. It nearly tried to kill you. It was wrapped around your throat like some snake. Then there's your scar," her fingers brush across my forehead. " How could I've ever thought it would protect you when Lord Farquad gave it to you?"

"Shh. I think she can hear us."

"She who?"

"I think it's a she. I couldn't really tell. It's like a giant eyeball thing."

"This is just too much. I need a drink. See if I date Michael it's back to fighting aliens with skin problems and getting rid of giant phallic weapons. You can't have a relationship with those kinds of distractions. It's doomed to failure."

"Don't say that. With what you said, I think it could work. "

"Then there's Isabel."

"Maria, she's like a sister to him."

"The first thing about royalty is that their family trees doesn't have branches. Just think about it if Michael is into being human and Max is to being an alien that means Isabel is finally into being nice."

"Isabel was always nice."

"Yeah, did she have your back when Alex died? She refused to even listen to you when you thought his death was alien related she jumped down your throat."

If I recall, everyone except Kyle was jumping down my throat at the moment including you Maria.

_"Wake up Alex." _

Should I tell her? Tell her what. I still can't put the pieces together. "Look. People grief in different ways. You shouldn't hold that against her."

"She and Max abandoned you after all you had done for them." .

I slide off the bed. "I'm going to get a drink of water."

"I'll get it."

"Maria go talk to Michael."

"I want to talk to you."

"Don't use me as an excuse."

"When did you start spouting the virtue of the touchy feely variety?"

"I give out advise doesn't mean I follow it."

"So you're hypocrite?"

"I prefer the term conversationally challenged."

"You suck Liz."

I push her. "You suck harder."

"You act like you're five."

"And you act like you're four."

"I love you," she says seriously.

I hug her. "I love you to. Now go and talk to Michael."

She walks two steps and stops.

"Maria."

"I'm working it out in my head. Visualization is the key."

"Do you want me to pretend to be Michael?"

"That would go well if we were dealing with old Michael now we're dealing with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Michael."

"I wouldn't go that far. He's still fashionably inept."

A wide smile spreads across her. "There's my evidence that he isn't with Princess Amidala."

Like she needed any.

"I'm going for my water."

"And I'm going to get laid," she sing songs back to me.

"Maria," I warn.

"Kidding."

Mentally, I count the stairs as I go down them.

I feel wired.

I need a coke.

No caffeine makes me crazy.

A couple bows to me.

Milk maybe.

Wait.

I turn back to them.

Did they just bow to me?

Liz they hate you here.

You just imagined it.

I hear their voices and the radio playing just before I come into to view. I hide on the other side of the door. Through the hinges, I watch Max and his legacy.

"You have to hide me dad. Serena is trying to make me go to bed. She says I have to go to sleep.

Max looks up amused from some papers.

My missing files no doubt.

"I've never slept before. I don't understand why Serena makes me, because we're down here."

"Because that's what human boys do. Of course, they're usually in bed before three in the morning, but Serena has never really been a details person."

"I don't want to be a human boy. You never sleep. Why do I have to?"

Must be why he's so moody.

" I want to go home. I don't like it here. It's noisy and things smell funny and and...this sleeping thing is stupid."

"We're going to go, but I have to fix some things first."

Max slides the papers away from him and lifts Seth up on to his lap. "I know it's tough for you being down here away from your room and Tharoon."

"I miss her. Do you think Isabel is taking care of her right? I left her a list."

"Trust me Izzy's got it covered."

"What are you doing?"

"Deciding how long of a rope to give Liz to strangle herself with," he sighs.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to let Liz strangle herself. Nessa would get mad."

"It's an expression buddy," he ruffles his hair. "You know Serena and Maria said you weren't being very nice to her."

"Why do I have to be nice to her? She hates me. "

Don't I feel terrible. He knows I'm uncomfortable with him.

"She doesn't hate you. When you're not nice to her, it makes it look I'm not a good dad."

He throws his arms around his neck. "You are a good dad," he answers with an overwhelming sincerity. "You didn't send me away, because I'm broken."

"Seth look at me. You're not broken. They don't know anything about it. You expect too much from yourself."

But Max's words don't seem to register.

"I'll do anything you want but don't make me be nice to her. She hates me. I can see it in her thelius."

"If there's anyone she's hate, it's me."

"Doesn't matter. I don't like her."

"You don't know her."

"So."

" Do you remember how we talked about the fake people?"

"Yes." He tugs on Max's sleeve. "How they pretend to be my friends, but they aren't."

"Liz and Maria would never do that. They've sacrificed a lot for us so remember that."

"Kay," he rubs his stomach. "I'm hungry. My tummy won't stop growling."

"It's past dinner time."

"I didn't eat anything when the others ate. If we were home we'd be eating right now. Why is it since we came to Earth, you've start acting all weird? It's because of Liz isn't? You still like her."

"You want some cereal."

Did he just dodge Seth's question? No, you're reading way too much into this.

Seth crawls off his lap. "Mac and cheese."

"A sandwich."

"Mac and cheese," he repeats with a single minded determination that is all his mother's.

A small burst of energy spills from my hands.

"You've had nothing but macaroni and cheese for a straight a week."

"That's not true. I had an apple this morning. Serena lets me eat anything I want when you go on your trips."

"Serena spoils you."

I cover my ears as my least favorite song ever starts to play.

_This by far is the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do  
To tell you, the woman I love  
That I'm having a baby by a woman that I barely even know_

I'm going to be sick.

The radio station switches to another station.

I look upwards. "Thank you," I whisper.

"I like that song. It's got a cool beat."

"You shouldn't be listening to rap." He takes out a pot from the cupboard.

"Usher isn't rap. Eminem is rap."

"I told her to stop playing that for you," Max grumbles.

"Miranda took all the bad words out. You know Eminem's mom was really bad to him. She never loved him."

Max stops abruptly filling a pot with water, "Do you...do you want to talk about it?" he asks tentatively. "I know you said you didn't but...."

"And he's much better than the Counting Crows."

He frowns slightly debating whether to pursue the subject. Finally, he shakes Maria's wooden spoon at him. "Keep this up and you're not going getting any mac and chesse. I'm not going to make it glow. The Counting Crows are a classic."

"They whine."

"Do not."

"What's foreplay?"

Max drops the spoon on the floor. "Um..who did you hear that from?"

"Serena says that's why you're fighting with Liz all the time, because you're foreplaying. Is it a game?"

"In a way."

"Are you winning?"

"Liz and I aren't playing that game with each other."

See. He's not even attracted to me anymore. A sick feeling churns inside of me.

"Why aren't you playing?"

"Could you get the milk and butter out of the fridge please?"

"You never taught me that word. How I'm supposed to learn this stupid language if you don't teach me all the words?"

"I tell you about it when you're older, much older," he adds turning the burner on.

"You know you could just use your powers. It would be faster."

"We're on Earth now. We should act more human."

"You'll still make it glow?"

"Yes, I'll make it glow," he smiles lifting him on top of the counter.

He's going to fall off and crack his head on the floor. Max what are you thinking? I cover my mouth. I sound like my mother.

Mom.

"Make it float to. I like it when it floats."

"Watch it, or I'll make you float."

"Dad stop tickling me. That's not fair." Seth bursts our giggling.

I close my eyes against the sight.

He loves his son.

Of course, he loves his son.

Why shouldn't he?

Because you're not Seth's mother a little voice answers.

Shut up Intuitive Liz.

A drip of liquid falls down my forehead. I wipe it away. Great I'm bleeding again.

Finding the bathroom, I rest against the door. "Keep it together. It's all in the past."

I stare at the new formed wound just below my hairline.

Max has been in my life for less than four hours and he's already leaving new scars.

Just like that anger trumps forgiveness.

_"What happen to the boy that made you see stars?" she wheezes. _

_I close her chart not needing her dwindling T cell count to know what's lurking around the horizon. I have my special alien talents for that. _

_He broke my heart. _

_He had a baby with someone else. _

_He loved her but not like he loved me. _

_"He's married." _

_"Why don't you wear a wedding ring then?" _

_"He didn't marry me sweetie." _

_" I don't get it." She tugs on my shirt to sit down beside her in the tiny bed. _

_"Sierra, I won't fit." _

_"I'll make you fit. Please, just for a minute." _

_Her warm body snuggles up to my chest. I fight back my tears, because very soon, she'll be as cold as ice cold. I wrap my arms around her tiny waste. _

_"He was dumb." _

_"We were too different." I slide her leather bracelet up and down her wrist. _

_"Did you fight a lot?" _

_"Just once then he left." _

_"He didn't give you what I have inside of me. My dad and mom had a big fight about that, and he made us leave because he said my mom got him sick." _

_More like the prostitute on his trucking route. _

_"No." He gave me something entirely different. _

_"But your tummy has spots on it like the ones on my face but yours are pink." _

_"I got burned." _

With a wet washcloth, I rub trying to make it go away. Like with anything else, it doesn't.

_"My whole life I've wanted to be this person, this normal person. Human. My whole life I've been thinking that this alien side of me was this bad thing. This thing that made me a freak. This monster. I realize that I haven't just been hiding from the government and the law all this time. I've been hiding from myself. I don't know what's going on anymore. I thought I knew but I don't. I've lost everyone." _

You lost everyone, because you drove them away. I strangle the washcloth.

You left him first the annoying little voice pipes up again.

Shut up Enabling Liz. Angry Liz has center stage for the moment.

_I'll be here for eternity. _

How wonderfully original Tess?

Framing her face with his hands, he presses her lips to hers. Gently, he lifts her shirt over her head.

I lift the medallion up. "Alright you've already made your point floating eyeball thingy so cut it out. I don't won't a repeat viewing."

The medallion answers with a faint green glow.

"Look after I get their files. I'm going to Chiapas. If I wanted free porn I download it off the net."

"Did you know talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity?"

My eyes snap up to the mirror where Khivar reflection stares out from it.

"He's downstairs. I'll scream, and he'll come."

Maybe.

Face it Liz.

You're hardly a blip on his radar screen anymore. He's found his eternity and Khivar has somehow found you again.

"I think you're a little old for a chaperone Liz," he purrs. "I've never been much for sharing, besides, I'm totally harmless for the moment." A small bolt shocks him as he puts his hands up against the glass, "That damn hag and her little pupil locked me out. It was her on the plane wasn't it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're a rotten liar."

I open my mouth to scream but no sound comes out.

"Serena doesn't concern me. You do."

Keep in control. "You don't even know me Khivar. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Then stop calling me. "

"Call you. You're insane." I touch the cold metal doorknob but refuse to turn it.

"We want the same things you know."

Angrily, I turn around. "I want to help people, and you want to kill them."

"Collateral damage to ensure my endgame."

"Which is what?"

"Max made love to Tess in the Roswell observatory right after a very sweet little stargazing interlude. Something he used to with you if I'm not mistaken, and afterwards, he told her how much he loved her and never felt anything for you."

Something attempts to prick my mind. Reflexively, I cover my forehead. "Stay out of my head," I warn. "What was between you and Zan?"

"What makes you think there was something between us Elizabeth? I took his throne and bedded his sweet sister, because I could."

"You strangled him with your bare hands. You didn't use your powers, which implies politics had nothing to do with what you did."

"We could be perfect for each other. If I could just break this obsession, you have with the boy king. Tell me, has you beloved Max confessed his undying love to you and told you how he's been pining away for you these last eight years?"

"Actually he has. We just made love, and we're getting married. He's going to make me his queen," I snit. "What did he do sleep with your wife?"

He snorts. "I make sure my women are not left wanting. You do well to remember that Lizzie. Did you get a good look at the child Tess gave him?"

"Why choose Creusa over Antar as ground zero for the virus?"

"How did you know that I did that?"

"I didn't you just told me."

"You would have made a wonderful queen. There's a delicious deviousness to you, but it isn't going to be enough to get what you want."

"Which is?"

"The apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Max is never going to let you taste it, but I will. I'll even lick the juices off you skin when you're done with it."

"Thanks for the very disgusting mental image. You wouldn't be trying to get me kicked out of Eden would you?"

"Would you really call a world where Max rules Eden? He wants to squash your potential, but I could show you so many things. The power is in your reach you just have to seize it."

"Power doesn't attract me."

"If you had power, maybe you could have prevented what happened to that little girl. What was her name? Sierra. Or you parents for that matter. I imagine losing Ma and Pa at twenty one was rather difficult. It has to get little tiring waking up from nightmares in the big bed of yours every night scared and all alone, but I guess not remembering how you got those lovely marks on your stomach has to be even more annoying. What does your shrink call it? Post traumatic stress disorder. Must had been quite an event Lizzie."

"You got flashes from me." Bring on the bile.

"Next time you go on a fact finding mission, you might want to make sure things are secure on your end." He touches his forehead. "You've been to our bitchy little ocularess, and she's deemed you a potential. It must have been hard for our dear little to king to watch. I bet his guilt is killing him right now. What do you think about your new calling?" He pauses, "Max hasn't even told you what you are now, has he? He throws his head back and roars. "This is classic Max burying his head in the sand, because he dislikes the results."

"If you have all the answers, trump him and tell me what a meaglan is?"

"Destruction," his eyes run down my body, "wrapped up in a oh so pretty package. Should be interesting to see how long it takes before Max tries to unwrap you?"

I roll my eyes.

"He's probably downstairs working on his little speech on how he needs your powers to help junior stay on the straight and narrow but when it comes down to it Lizzie, he isn't going to be the first to see what's inside. Max has no idea who you are anymore or what you need, but I do. Now let me out, and I'll show you just how accommodating I can be."

"What is that I need so badly?"

"To feel whole again. To get back what his lovely wife Tess took from you?"

"You're full of crap Khivar. I don't want him back. She can have him. This discussion is over."

He holds up a small silver glove against the glass. "This belonged to my mother. It belongs to you now."

At the sight, something foreign bubbles within me. Reason drowns under a torrent of need, desire, and want. I lick my lips and meet his dark eyes. "Is there a point to this?"

"Let me breech your walls and I guarantee you won't find my point to be lacking."

"You're a pig."

"You like that about me." A wraith like hand reaches unhindered through the glass. "Thank you darling."

"I didn't do anything."

"You do a lot more than you know." The silver chain linked glove sits in his outstretch palm.

The inch in my skin is unbearable. I have to slip my hand into it. It's mine.

I'm in trouble.

Max.

He won't come.

He never comes.

"Come here."

"I'm quite happy where I am." I place my hands behind me.

"Always in control," Khivar muses. "You should try loosing it once in a while. Remember how free you felt dancing down the bowling alleyways after you caught Max kissing Tess."

Once again, my hand circles the doorknob but nothing happens.

Turn it.

Get out.

Khivar's suddenly solid hand grabs my wrist and spins me a round.

I crash into his body.

He's out of the mirror.

Max help me.

"Stop calling for him. He can't hear you," Khivar slips the glove over my left hand and sits me on top of the sink.

A feathery sensation enters only to be replaced by a liquid heat. Filling every crevice in me, I no longer feel empty.

I no longer feel me.

"You like that."

The rich taste of power slides down her throat. She arches her head back. Sweaty tendrils of hair brush against the cold glass.

Teeth nip along her neck. "The things that you do to me Liz. You're in my head, and I can't get you out of it."

She studies the woman's reflection in the mirror.

The way her two cold humanless eyes move back and forth in their sockets.

A faint green glow tinges her cheeks while her exhalations fog up the mirror.

BREAK OUT OF IT.

"Stop fighting me. I'm doing you a favor. Max never loved you," the thing over her says forcing her head up to meet him. "You meant absolutely nothing to him, but you mean everything to me."

Her hand aches from the glove squeezing it. The cold metal against her neck heats up. Her mind travels elsewhere to raindrops tapping on the ceiling and to warm arms that turn she back into me.

_"Do you have any idea what it would do to me if I lost you? I'm hanging on a thread as it is and that's on my good days. I can't do another round of you in the hospital hooked up to all those machines and not being able to do a damn thing to help you." _

_"I'm sorry. Things just got weird, and I got careless. " _

_His voice takes on a strange edge. "Define weird. What happened out there Liz?" _

_Tell him. You're a freak, and it's getting worse. _

_His cobalt eyes study me. How will he look afterwards if I tell him? I ran from Max when he told me. "I don't want to talk about it Brian." _

_Something crashes outside. _

_"What is that ?" The bed springs creek as I jump up. _

_He pulls me back down to him. "Shhh. It's just the thunder." _

_"I'm so wired. It's like everything is intensified by a hundred percent." _

_His mouth forms into a thin line. _

_"I feel so strange like I'm not me anymore." _

_He presses his forehead to mine. "You're still you." _

_"How do you know? I could be some scaly alien posing as a human." _

_"Here I thought I was the only one doing that." _

_I'm smack him. "You're such a dork." _

_He traces the vertex of my cheek. "Don't doubt who you are or what you have. I did once. I got lost because of it and hurt the one person who means everything to me." _

A hand slaps me across the face. "You're in love with the blonde," Khivar hisses.

"I don't fall in love." I clinch my fingers hoping to form a spark anything to get away from him but nothing happens.

"You've been de-clawed dear."

Something plummets in me. I've lost control. I feel weak. I hate being week.

"How long?"

Think Liz. My fingers scout around behind me.

Hair brush. Candle. Bobby Pins. Rubber bands. Toothpaste.

A plastic bottle.

Hairspray maybe?

Was there a bottle?

He shakes me by the shoulders and the bottle tumbles into the sink. "How long have you been in love with the human?"

I slide my hand up his shoulder. " I have no idea what you're talking about. Why would I choose to be with a human who has no powers when I could be with someone as powerful as you are?"

He shoves me back against the sink. "Not falling for it again."

I grab the bottle from the sink.

Hairspray.

"Are you planning to style my hair with that?"

Matches.

The medicine cabinet.

I dive at it.

Boxes tumble out.

Khivar throws me against the wall, and the bottle slips from my grasp.

He picks it up and reads the back. "Flamable," he sounds out the Spanish word. "You wouldn't be trying to burn my face off now would you Lizzie?"

I don't answer. Silence seems to be the only thing I have going for me right now.

He crouches down and his black eyes dive into me. "I'm not going to ask you again. When did you cement yourself to your little human?'

Driven by some compulsion, my mouth opens and words come. My words not his. "My sex life is none of your business."

"Still fighting me," he says with admiration. "If you were any other woman, I'd be so buried in your head by now you wouldn't know where you begin and I end."

I'm going to be sick.

"We're going to have some wonderful children together when the time comes. They definitely will not resemble my first attempt."

"I'll kill myself first."

His cold fingers touch my skin. "Responsibility and duty weigh too heavily on you to do something in that vein. Now, I want to know when did you cement your mind to the human. How strong is the bond?"

Oh God. What did I do to Brian? Poker face.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

I've just signed his death warrant.

"Which means your little Brad Pitt isn't entirely who he appears to be? There is something disgustingly familiar about him in your memories." His palm presses on my mark. "I hate to do this to you Lizzie. I promise to make it as painless as possible unless you fight me that is," he says ominously.

I kick him and lunge at the door but my hands refuse to turn the knob. No sound comes out of me as I try to scream.

BRIAN

A force picks me up, and I'm flying through the air. My body smashes into the titled wall and I fall into the tub.

Pain blossoms in every muscle and bone.

More blood drips down my head.

I blink back my tears to see six Khivars staring at me over the tub's mouth. "If I have to break you to get obedience then I will. You are going to be my meaglan if you like it or not." Six hands reach for me but something green springs up around the tub and blocks them.

"I was wondering when you would show up. Your memories of her hardly do her justice. I can't begin to describe how she tastes."

Bulbs pop.

"Do you really want to do this here Khivar?" comes a low voice. "I seem to remember your first lesson as being let your enemy come to you."

Max? Lessons?

"That's only when said enemy is capable. You're not."

"Things change."

"Your little plan...." Khivar's voice breaks up. " Two of a formidable couple....lost everything...breasts..."

A pressure pops in my head. I wince.

"Better get junior.....heal her."

"Leave...or....let...die..."

"No....won't."

"Try..."

I fight to keep my eyes open.

Fingers touch my arm. "No Khivar, please don't."

"It's me Liz," Max says softly.

Why can I hear him now?

"Keep your eyes open for me. I think you have a concession." Gently, he eases me to a sitting position. "Where does it hurt?"

"My head and my eyes. Khivar?"

"He's gone." Max brushes my hair away from my face.

"How? Brian. He's going to hurt him."

"I have someone watching him. It's ok."

A new wave of popping begins. "Oh God please make it stop."

"Rest your head on your knees." He rubs my back.

"I bet your getting some sadistic delight out of paying me back," I grit my teeth and more tears drop down my cheeks.

His rubbing stops. "If I could make it stop Liz, I would," his tone sounds almost hurt.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Dad. "What happened? You just rushed off. I tried to come in and you blocked me. You were afraid just like when Tess.." his tone turns accusatory. "It's because of her isn't? What did you do Liz?"

"We talked about this Seth."

"You're trying to kill us all aren't you? This is all your fault."

Slowly, I lift my head up and stare at five angry Seths. "Do you think I enjoy being here? That I'm getting a real kick out of seeing you running around? Help me. I'll leave and then your dad could take you to visit the Roswell observatory."

Oh God did that just come out of my mouth. Good Job be a bitch then they'll really help you.

"Are you done?" snaps an angry Max.

"What's an observatory?"

"It's where you go to look at stars."

Among other things. Bad thought. Liz is going to be nice until the evil alien and his kid fix her up.

I turn to one of the angry Seths. "I'm sorry. I'm seeing five of everything. Could you please help me here? Then I'll leave."

"You can't. Dad tell her."

I can't win even when I'm trying to be nice.

"Heal her please and then Liz and I are having a little chat," he answers dryly. Can you handle it?" Concern creeps into his voice.

"I'm not a baby Dad." He leans over me and his fingers graze my temples. "My dad is mad at you," he whispers. "You're going to get it."

So what else is new.

"He's going to send you to jail because that's where bad people go."

"Seth stop talking and heal her please."

A slight warmth enters my skin and the five pictures condense into one. "Oh my god," Immediately, I try to jerk away from Seth's hand but Max prevents me. "It's hurting him," I screech. "His eyes are rolling back into his head. You never did that."

"He heals differently than I did. Stay still until he finishes."

Two amber irises and black pupils drop back into place. A weird look comes over his face. "I knew but I didn't," he mumbles.

Max hugs him immediately. "Seth talk to me."

"She was just too big daddy."

Max cradles his face in his hands. "Snap out of it." Fear rolls off every word.

My heart speeds up. Max is scared.

I throw my legs over the side of the bathtub and kneel down beside them.

Think. He's in shock.

"Seth talk to daddy."

"She was just too big, and she won't stop hurting the lady. Her screams are in my ears."

He looks up warily at me. "The lady is fine. I told you that."

"She was just too big. She wanted to make the lady sad and she did."

Tentatively, I reach out and touch his shoulder. "I'm sure the lady is ok."

Whatever terror that holds him breaks apart. He turns around to me. "Did I tell you that you could touch me?" He whips back around to Max. "Dad you're crushing me. I can't breath. Oh no. Dad don't start kissing me."

More pieces of me shatter as I watch Max and his son.

Their son.

Not our son.

Evidence of their love.

Not ours.

Ours apparently was nothing more than a fantasy.

I slide away from them. Water and oil can not mix, and I am simply not a member of this bond.

"You just took five years of my life."

"I'm sorry. My mind went on vacation, but it came back."

"You promised me you were never going to do that again. Do you remember why your mind went away?"

"No."

"Liz made me come back. Where is Liz?"

I open the bedroom door. Liz is doing what Liz does best. Liz is running far away from here, and she is never going to look back.

* * *


	9. The Pretenders

Chapter 9: The Pretenders

I stumble down the stairs. Disjointed thoughts circle in my head. Flipping from the past to the present, they create an angry hum that is almost unbearable.

_"Why am I here? What do you mean there was an accident?""_

Max Tess Seth = a family

Liz = 0

_"YOU'RE WRONG. MY PARENTS AREN'T DEAD. I JUST SAW THEM, AND THEY'RE FINE."_

A family = Max Tess Seth

0= Liz

"_I don't want this to be awkward, but I don't regret what happened." _

Brian Liz= ?

Get out. You need space and time to regroup.

I throw open the front door to find him waiting for me on the other side.

"We need to talk," his cyborg voice tells me.

Looking over my shoulder, I stare up at the room I just left him and his son in. "Nice trick. I know you're just dying to say it," I say deciding to beat him to the punch.

"Say what?"

"Something about me running away again."

He bends down to my eye level. "What are you running from Liz?" With his long hair and scarred face, he looks nothing like the Max that I knew, but he still looks too much like the version that cost me everything.

I stare blankly at him.

A grandfather clock ticks behind me.

An itch begs to be scratched on my heel.

"Scream, yell, do what you have to do, but please talk to me." His stranger's face pleads.

I can't.

You're not my Max.

You killed him.

No, I killed him.

The buzz of white noise begins in my ears followed by a coldness that creeps up my spine.

Words come out of Max's mouth, but I can't make them out. His arms circle around me and then I feel nothing.

_Drop after drop falls like tears from the sky. It is after all the rainy season. _

_Leaning my head back, I catch several droplets in my mouth while others slide down my throat. The water's cold touch washes away the tension and panic bubbling within me. Rubbing my wet hands together, I feel like a waterlogged version of Lady Macbeth. Opening my left hand, I press on the still tender flesh. I let out a shaky sigh when nothing happens. It was just a one-time thing. _

_I'm still me. _

_I'm still human. _

_I'm still in control. _

_I peer through the balcony's bars and watch a **cyclo** maneuver through the soaked streets. In reality, it is an empty gesture, because somehow I know Brian is standing behind me. There was no squeak of the door or movement of board beneath me. My eyes never landed on him and transformed various light waves into blue eyes and blonde hair, but I know he is there. This single fact bothers me far more than the cause that ripped me from my bed, because it just proves what I've hidden from all along._

_I'm not me._

_I'm not human._

_I'm most definitely not in control. _

_I stare ahead, and he waits behind. _

_Max once told me he would wait for me. I snort. Max told me a lot of things. _

_A car horn blares. Immediately, I cover my ears against the blaring sound. Raised voices break through the barrier of my hands. "It's too loud, and they're too angry." _

_The warmth of his arms touches me as he forces me up. "You're going inside," he says in his soft commanding way. If he had used that voice on me five seconds sooner, I would have told him to get lost. He knows me way too well. No, he can't ever know me. No one can ever know. _

_Closing the door, he leads me to the bed. Outside, the argument grows only louder. With a perfect clarity, I hear every rise in pitch and tone in their voices. My heartbeat speeds up, and my nostrils flare. I feel their anger._

_Something warm and fuzzy brushes against my ears, and it takes me a moment to realize that Brian is drying off my hair. _

_"I didn't think my hair looked that bad." _

_"Personally, I've always liked it longer." He stops his ministrations and hands me the towel. "You better dry off, or you'll catch cold." _

_I've not been sick in nearly three years. Not a sniffle, a cough or a sore throat, it's funny I sort of miss it. _

_"You told me the nightmares had stopped." _

_I bite my bottom lip and taste the slightly acidic rain water. _

_"Why do you always do this?" _

_"Do what?" Bending down, I wrap the towel around my head. _

_"Shut me out. I can't help you if you don't talk to me. You're always hiding from me." _

_My head snaps back up. "That's funny coming from you." _

_"What's that supposed to mean?" _

_" Tell me, why you've been practically hovering over me for the past two days. I told you what happened was a freak occurrence. Why won't you give me the clearance to go back and do my job? You gave it to Mani, and he was just as much in the thick of things as I was." _

_"I have my reasons," he answers staring up at the popcorn ceiling. _

_"There you go again with your split personalities. There's the Brian that tells me everything, and then there's the doom and gloom version who tells me nothing. Could you pick one? I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up with you." _

_His focus lands back on me. "You think I'm gloomy?" _

_Propping myself up on my elbows, I stare down his blank face. Its emptiness mirrors my own. Tension twists in my stomach as a feeling surges through me that I thought died long ago at the hands of an amber- eyed murderer. "You have an edge about you. You hide it well, but sometimes it comes out. I think someone hurt you very badly." _

_"No more than I hurt her." He swallows. "Were you dreaming about what happened in the jungle?"_

_"This woman, who was she?"_

_He touches my cheek. _

_"No, matter what you're always there for me. Why won't you let me do the same thing for you?" _

_"You are here for me in a way that no one has or will ever be. I'd probably be locked up in a padded cell if it wasn't for you, but there are just some things...I can't tell you. "_

_"Can't or won't?" I ask. _

_A tantalizing gap separates our bodies while gravity pulls on me to breach it. _

_"Don't do this Liz," he warns darkly. _

_"Don't care? I do more than I thought I could care about anyone ever again." _

_He shakes his head refusing to listen to my words. "If you knew me, really knew me, you wouldn't." _

_"I know you're empty like me," I sink lower. "I can see it in your eyes. You know what's it's like to have the one person you trust beyond all others destroy you." _

_"Liz." _

_"I'm not offering you forever or eternity. I don't believe in that anymore. When I was out in the jungle, I thought about you, and I think...I think could love you maybe." Dropping my head, I hide behind the curtain my hair creates. _

_The springs squeak as he sits up sharply brushing against me. "You don't mean that," he says firmly lifting my chin. "You're confused. I've confused you. I thought I was helping you, but I'm not. There are rules. They are very good rules, and I've always broken the rules where you've been concerned. You always paid the price for it, and I can't do that again. I don't want to hurt you anymore." _

_"Then love me instead, because I really need you to right now." For one click of my wrist watch, the hole in me nearly fills as my lips brush against his. _

_The next tick finds me on my back listening to the door slam. _

"Hija," Serena calls. "Liz, please tell us where you are?"

Disoriented, I look up. Colors swirl before my eyes. I shake my head causing the shapes to come back into focus. A warmth touches my skin. Grabbing the medallion, I notice it's glowing again.

"Where is she?"

That is a very good question. Crouched in a corner, I have no idea how I got here. I open my mouth to speak, but no sound comes out.

"What if Khivar has her?"

"He doesn't have her Mother."

"How do you know?"

"We're still alive and breathing."

"She inhabits every facet of Max's mind and crook of his heart. Yet, he can't even string the words together to tell her. I'm going to kill Max. That's after I chase him around the kitchen with a butcher knife."

"Here I thought that was only something you did with me, Mother. Ouch. Why did you do that for?"

"You aren't taking the situation seriously, besides you deserved it that time I chased you around with the knife. How many times had I told you to bring home a human girl or not to bring one home at all? Of course, I never meant for you to abduct one."

"Funny."

"I think the rescue from the army was what won Yvonne over. You couldn't have planned a better wooing opportunity."

"My goal at the time was not about wooing her."

She waves a dismissive hand at him. "You only helped her, because you had a thing for her. Don't think I didn't know about all the time you were spending down here watching her."

"I was down here hiding with Miranda. Remember the little death squad Khivar sent after her?

"Don't give me that. You were down here chasing some tail."

Larek rolls his eyes. "I stand corrected."

"That's why you have to help me."

"With what?"

"Getting Liz and Max back together."

"Getting them back together isn't really on my list of priorities."

"My whole locking them in a closet or the basement routine isn't going to work with Max's claustrophobia."

"Don't you have other more important things to worry about? Finding Liz, **t**he virus, Khivar, the end of our existence as we know it."

"Maybe I could lock them in a room that shouldn't set Max off." She frowns in thought. "He'll just use his powers on the lock. We could shoot Liz, and he**'ll** be forced to admit his love for her. You know how he gets when he thinks she's in trouble that boy would walk through fire to keep her safe."

HA HA!!! Yeah right.

"No one is shooting Liz."

"We'd heal her right up afterwards hijo. It would feel like a little pinch."

"Trust me being shot hardly feels like a pinch."

"It isn't like she hasn't been shot before," Serena reasons. "We have to do something to get them back together."

"Personally, I think she's better off with her boss. Ouch, mother will you stop hitting me."

"I didn't raise you to be stupid. I've found someone for the boy."

"Great you've moved on to tormenting people outside of our family. How about you try leaving everyone alone for a change?"

"Miranda is going to be perfect for him."

Larek's voice turns grave. "Leave Miranda alone. She's grieving."

"She's been grieving for forty years Larek, as have you, and it needs to stop."

His calm demeanor falls apart before my eyes. "It will stop when Khivar is six feet under," he practically roars.

"Then what?"

"Could you go bother Max with your excessive questions? He wants Khivar dead even more than I do."

"Max has Seth who keeps him from running off and getting himself killed. You have no one. You've shut me out, and you've shut Miranda out as well. Do you know how much that hurts her?"

Larek meets her observations with a stony silence.

"The only person you seem to connect to is Liz. You know how this family is with humans. Put us in a room with fifty of our own kind, and we're going to seek out the human. Liz is a beautiful girl, and I could understand if you had developed some feelings for her after watching over her so long."

"You've found me out mother. I'm passionately attracted to her. Every time, I see her I have to fight the urge not to break into poetic verse praising her beauty. Despite the fact that I'm old enough to be her grandfather."

"That doesn't seem to be stopping Khivar."

"I loved one woman," he says seriously. " There will never be another, so can we drop it?"

"I wish I could understand the appeal humans hold for us. They don't have any powers. They barely use their brains. Living as long as we do, you would we think we see them as annoyances, but Maria and Liz have so much life and vitality to them. I never had that when I was their age. They make me feel so alive."

"There's your answer."

"Yet, there is never enough time to show them everything. They all are like stars that burn out before their time. I've buried so many human friends. You think I would learn," she muses sadly.

Running feet smack against tiles. "Have you found her yet?" Seth asks breathlessly. "My dad thinks she's sheining, but she doesn't know she's doing it. Larek, maybe you can see her. She likes you. I saw it in her head."

"What do you mean, 'like', Seth?"

"Mother will you drop it."

"Does she want to kiss Larek, or is it more like she wants to be his friend?"

"MOM."

"Fine." Serena puts her hands up in surrender. "Just checking. Liz is a lot different than she was before. Her spirit is in pain. If I ever get my hands on that..."

"Were you able to sense anything?" Max's voice cuts in.

"Larek would you mind going to the kitchen and getting me my butcher knife." Serena crosses her arms. "I'm rather put in with you right now Max."

"Put out, mom."

"Do not correct me when I'm disciplining. Next time I'm pulling your ear." She turns to Max. "What did you do to Liz to get her so upset that she's sheining? Do you want her to go to Khivar?"

A light shatters.

"Or would you prefer to see her back with the boy? According to Maria, he showed her a very nice time in Vietnam."

A row of terra cotta pottery explodes.

Seth's eyes grow large. "Dad, stop breaking everything. You're being bad."

Max takes a breath and crouches down beside Seth. "I'm sorry. Your godmother can be a little hard to take at times."

"I maybe six hundred years old, but I can still hear young man."

"You're five hundred and ninety mother."

"I was rounding up for dramatic effect," Serena huffs indignantly.

Max whispers something in Seth's ear.

"Okay, but no more breaking anything," Seth says seriously.

"I promise," Max answers before Seth runs off.

"It's good to see that one of you has a bit of control," Serena chides. "You should have never approached Liz while she was in such a state. How many times have I told you the importance of being subtle?"

"Subtle," Max repeats before turning towards Serena. "Liz had no idea that I or Seth was going to be here, did she?"

"I may have hinted something at the airport."

"More like you talked around it like you always do. I'm telling you stop pushing this. She and I were over years ago."

I jam my fist into my stomach to ease the throbbing pain there.

"Over? Is that why you tried to take Khivar on by yourself? That wasn't exactly a cautious move on your part considering your current state."

"You try having someone you care about pop into your head screaming bloody murder and finding them bashed up in a bathtub with your mortal enemy standing over them and see how cautious you are?"

"Wait. Liz called for you, and you heard her," a Cheshire smile spreads across her face.

"No, yes. It's complicated."

"So you are saying you heard her calling for someone else?" Larek asks. "How is that possible?"

He heard me calling for Brian. That's why he came. Using the wall, I push myself up.

"Could you stop giving me the third degree and help me find her?" he snaps.

Am I lost? I touch my head. Nope, I'm still here.

"I think Maria would be able to see her due to their friendship. Liz wouldn't deem her a threat," Larek suggests.

"We are not bringing Maria into this. She'll just overact, besides she and Michael are otherwise engaged."

"That was fast," Larek comments.

"You should have seen them in high school. They were together. They were apart. I could never keep up with them. I told Michael to take things slow. When does he ever listen to me?"

Serena shakes her finger at Max. "Could we focus on the situation here? A potential meaglan is sheining between two planes, because you drove her to it. Throw in the fact that she's calling Khivar to her...."

"She is not calling Khivar to her," Max growls.

"He could be with her right now doing God knows what," Serena smacks her hands over her eyes, "oh the horror. All because she thinks you don't love her. If you were to um let's say tell her otherwise..."

"Stop trying to manipulate me."

I let out a harsh breath.

"He was laying it on Liz pretty thick, and it wasn't working."

She lifts one of her liver spotted hands up. "What did you mean it didn't work?"

"She was fighting him when I came in."

Larek turns to Max and gives him a speculative glance. A blue vein bobs out of his forehead. "I have to see about something."

"You should know he's in love with Liz," Serena leans into Max. "He going to tell her so you might want to tell..."

"Stop meddling," Max interrupts.

"She isn't here," Seth answers coming in from the archway.

Serena pats Seth on the head. "When you grow up, promise me you'll do whatever your godmother tells you, and never, never behave like your arrogant hard headed father."

Max puts his hand over Seth's mouth. "That's not a promise he'll be making."

Seth says something behind Max's hand. "What?" Max takes his hand away from his mouth.

"If I don't do what Serena says, she won't help my sister get born."

"What have you been putting into his head?"

"Wouldn't you like to know Max? However, right now I'm too angry to tell you."

"Whatever you're doing stop it Serena." Max picks Seth up. "I know you get lonely buddy, but there aren't going to be any sisters."

"Why?"

A pained expression comes over Max. "It's just isn't going to happen."

"You're wrong," he says with a starling certainty.

Digging my nails into my palm, I reopen my old wounds.

"What makes you say that?" Max carefully asks.

You know, because Tess is your eternity. I think I'm going to be sick. Slowly, I make my way out from the corner. Their heads never turn as my shoes click against the tiles.

"I've seen her Dad, in my head. You don't have to worry. We aren't going to fight. I want her to be the queen, because she isn't going to get broken like me."

"You're not broken."

"I'm going to keep her safe from all the bad people. When I start to do bad things, she will make me good again."

"You are good Seth."

"I even know her name."

"Seth you are good," Max stresses.

"No I'm not." Seth slides down from Max grip. "Where are you going, Liz?"

I freeze at the sound of his voice.

"Where is she?" both Serena and Max say in unison.

Seth points at me. "Right there. Can't you see her?"

Max shakes his head.

"She looks sick. I'm not healing her again. I don't like the things in her head. She did something she wasn't supposed to do in the jungle."

I close my eyes.

"It's why Khivar wants to put babies inside of her, but Liz doesn't want any babies in her."

"What did she do?"

My eyes snap open at the edge in Max's voice. "It's none of your business what I did." The ground rumbles beneath us, and a sudden wind whips the hanging baskets in front of me.

"Hija, I know that Max can be an idiot sometimes, but he means well."

Red streams shoot out of my glove covered hand and hit a flower pot. Dirt spills out on to the floor. For a moment, I imagine the black particles transforming into a dripping crimson oozing out of a little dark haired boy. Oh God. Flicking my head over my shoulder, I catch Serena and Seth disappearing through a doorway.

A dark cloud unfolds itself in my mind. "It would be so easy Liz."

I shiver at the sound of Khivar's voice in my head.

"Max left you empty, and now it's your turn."

"Seth is an innocent child."

"Nothing about him was ever innocent."

I cover my ears. "Go away."

"Liz," his familiar voice interrupts Khivar's connection.

"Brian. What are you...." my train of thought flies away from me.

"I'm worried about you," he says softly taking a step towards me.

"He wants me to do something terrible, but I won't do it," I answer emphatically. Looking down at the flesh colored pot, the image of Seth's body returns along with the charred corpses of my parents. I shut my eyes.

"Liz, I need you to focus on me. Can you do that?" One arms snakes around my waist.

"Yes."

Fingers walk down the back of my bicep. "You have to calm down."

"I can't."

"Do you remember that beach we went to after you got out of the hospital? The way the sun sets turned the cliffs a bright orange and made the water sparkle? You said that if you ever got married that was where you'd want it to be."

"It beats being a teenaged bride in Vegas."

He stiffens against me. "Do you remember the little restaurant we ate at?"

"I had lobster for the first time and then we went and looked at the starfish in the tide pools."

Fingers stop at my wrist. The glove slides against my skin. Red sparks swirl from my fingers. Whipping around, my energy collides into a burst of green. Streaming back between our outstretched palms, a band of red attacks a line of green coming from his own hand. For a second, I'm distracted by the mere beauty of the sight, but this feeling evaporates as soon as dark hair and eyes replace light ones. "You mind warped me. You son of a bitch."

His stranger's face regards me coldly.

"How did you know those things?" I demand.

"Flashes."

My insides tumble to a new low. He's still getting flashes from me, and I haven't gotten anything from him.

I'm letting him see me.

I can't still have feelings for him.

I won't.

"I hate you," I sneer hoping to cover my vulnerability.

"I'm well aware of what you think of me. It's in your eyes when you look at me." He says with an underlying sadness.

I will not feel sympathy for him. I can't afford to.

He looks up at the sky. "Talking to you used to be like breathing and now I can barely get the words out. It's so much easier when I'm..." he stops abruptly as his eyes drift back down to me. "I know that Khivar has probably been telling you things, and Nessa has been showing...I never wanted you to see that, and now you think...I can only imagine what you think. I need you to know you were never..."

He falters as emotion enters his vacant eyes. For a split second, I travel back to the brief time to when I loved him. Yet, just as quickly, the look disappears, or maybe I just imagined it.

"You were never insignificant to me," he finally gets out.

_I never loved her. _

"There you go with your lovely words again because that is what they are."

The green flowing through his fingers becomes erratic while the red flowing through mine strengthens in intensity.

"I needed you when Alex died, and you were too busy fucking your destiny. You promised that you would always be my friend and then you just," my voice grows hoarse, "you just abandoned me."

"Like you abandoned me that day at the pod chamber."

I swallow back tears.

"I had just been tortured by an insane lunatic. Where we you for the months after, I woke up screaming from the nightmares? You were the only one who had any idea what it felt like."

"I never knew you had nightmares." One tear gets by my defenses as I remember the terror I felt from his flashes. Khivar is right. Max and I would have never worked. Our marriage in the first timeline must have been disaster. Tess was made for him, and I wasn't.

"We've both done things we aren't proud of. Tess...."

"DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR PERFECT LITTLE TESS." The bright red coming from my hands turns a fiery crimson while every nerve ending in me starts to scream.

"If you don't drop the surge, you're going to hurt yourself. Look at the color. Yours are green." His eyes land on the glove. "You are channeling something you shouldn't be."

"So you're the only who gets to get in touch with their alien side? That is what her appeal was to you, wasn't it?"

"You're not an alien."

"Don't side step me. Khivar is right. You are a control freak."

"I'm trying to make things right. Why can't you see that? Do you think I feel good about the way I treated you before I left? It makes me sick just thinking about it."

"You want to make it right." Sweat trickles down my brow. "Then tell me what did you turn me into?" I accuse circling him as the band connecting us stretches outwards. "What is a meaglan?"

"Power and weakness, destruction and life, yin and yang. Action defines a meaglan." He answers vaguely. His eyes never leave the spot where his green and my red energy touch.

"I'm not following."

"You're not ready to follow it. I hope that you never are. It's a burden that is not yours to carry. He was scared, and he didn't know what he was doing."

I wince as a slight discomfort begins in my head.

"Drop the surge," he orders.

"What are you going to do? Turn me over your knee and give me a spanking?"

"Didn't really know you were into that kind of thing, Liz. I'll try anything once."

"Yeah anything where you're in control."

"I have no problem with you being on top if that's how it has to be."

"Your little woman might have a problem with that."

"What happened in Vietnam?"

The color coming from me dims while his sparkles to life with a newfound intensity.

"Did you suffer from any lapses of time while you were there?"

"Yes," I whisper. "It was terrifying."

His face pales.

"I came to at a Karaoke bar. I was singing Stairway to Heaven."

"Damn it Liz," he snaps. "I can't protect you if you don't talk to me."

"The chairman asked me never to return to the country again. I really didn't think...can't." I gasp grabbing my neck while a heat charges in my body. Burning hot, it courses up from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. In every muscle and tendon, the energy sizzles begging desperately to be let out.

A green beam shoots out from Max's other hand. Wrapping around my waist, it yanks me into Max's arms. Our palms slap together. Green and red light jump off our skin.

_"What happened to the boy that made you see stars?"_

"Liz, you have to calm down."

_"I'm your lab partner after all, until you want to trade me in for a new one." _

Heat sinks its fangs into my muscles. Pulled to the limit, they snap underneath me. I grab on to Max's biceps to steady myself. The pain in my stomach is almost unbearable. "I need," I repeat over and over in a mantra hating the thought that I could need anything from him and hating even more that I have no idea what I'm asking for, but knowing all the same that only Max can give it to me. Reaching up, I run my fingers down his scar. My touch scatters red sparks across his bronze skin. The lines and creases that seemed to have been his perpetual companion lessen.

Something primal and very alien surfaces in his eyes somewhere between a predatory sheen and dangerous glow while blue tendons stand out in relief against his neck. Around my waist, I feel his arm tighten and relax and then tighten again.

I wet my lip in a nervous gesture. A strange feeling flutters to life that displaces the fiery one that threatened to burn me from the inside out. Despite the respite, my pulse throbs more now than it did before, and the pounding in my ears roars like a tidal wave.

Wordlessly, Max's hand covers my own and together they slide down his face. Raising my hand to his mouth, I feel his lips brush my knuckles in a butterfly kiss that by some cruel chance of fate warms me in a way that no kiss has in eight years.

Disgusted, I try and yank my hand away, but he doesn't let go. Instead, his fingers start to coast back and forth down the arch of my hand.

"Roswell has an observatory," I hear my voice suggest in my head.

"Stupid medallion," I mumble. "Look, can I have my hand back?"

He turns my hand over and stares at the center of my palm. "Promise me something first."

"What?" I snap.

His eyes look up from my hand.

I back away.

Alien Max I can fear.

Adult Max I can hate, but against the caring boy persona he's currently chosen to inhabit I can do neither. I'm completely vulnerable to him, and he's the version that hurt me the most.

"Never," he begins, "offer me what you just did. It isn't mine to take."

"No matter, how much I want it." He lets go of my hand. "For the longest time, I was so angry with you for taking the life away that we would have had together."

"I did both of us a favor. We would have been terrible together."

"We weren't in the first timeline," he breathes. "I loved you, and I'm pretty sure that you loved me. Until, I left you there to die," he adds bitterly, "and jumped into this timeline and offered you up as some sacrificial lamb all over again."

The pain in my stomach begins again with a vengeance. Twisting and turning, it takes all my will power to keep from doubling over. I turn my back on him as water begins to build in my eyes.

"It's how I know. I can't give you what you think you need, because the thing is that you don't need it. You never did."

I take a deep breath. "It, meaning you." I answer struggling to keep my voice even.

"Yes," comes his barely audible answer.

"While you were away, did you ever feel like you needed me?" The nagging question comes out before I have a chance to cage it. "Don't answer that," I add quickly.

_I never loved her. _

"I already know the answer."

"Shit, Liz don't do this again."

Turning around, I watch his hand thrash through the air. As I walk out of the courtyard, I never turn around to record one final memory of Max for posterity. The truth is I don't want to. Like some kind of ghost, I float by couple after couple before I find myself on the driveway. My eyes darting from the cars that line it.

"Liz," Maria whispers darting up from the side of a BMW.

"Maria what are you doing out here?"

"What the hell did that bastard do to you? You look like he ripped you to shreds." She rushes up and captures me in a hug.

"I'm fine," but my trade mark lie doesn't carry me through. "I'm not fine. Would it be too much for him to cut his hair? I'm not fine that he has a son who hates me, Maria. I shouldn't care, but I do. Guess what? There's some other kid on the way, and I'm really getting tired of my stomach hurting."

She pulls away from me. "Let me see."

"No," I wipe my eyes.

"It's not like I haven't seen it before. It's gotten a lot better." She lifts up my shirt. The color immediately leaves her face. "Liz hon, you've got two handprints on your stomach, and they're glowing."

I place my hand over Max's print while a smaller one twinkles at my fingertips. "Whose print is this?"

"I have no idea."

Noise erupts from the house.

"Get in the car," Maria orders pointing to a shiny convertible.

"I can't leave. They have to tell me what's going on."

"Because they been so forthcoming as it is. We need to get out of dodge. The minute they have one of their own pulling a Pam Troy you have to know it's not a very good operation."

"What are you talking about?"

"The body snatcher."

"Larek?"

"He gave me these keys and this," she held up a vanilla folder. "He said you were going to make a run for it and to wait for you out here. Liz, the man was flipping out. He even lost his body. Serena's in there right now messing around with the kid's head he took over. I love that woman dearly, but Lizzie her little memory wipe thing reminds me a little too much of her royal skankyness. Can we go?"

"What about Michael?"

"We sort of got into a fight. I'll tell you all about when we've put mucho distancia between us and this place."

"Fine, I'm driving."

"Not when you're lighting up like a Christmas tree over there."

"You don't know how to drive a manual, Maria."

"Neither do you."

"Sean taught me."

Maria makes a face. "What else did my good for nothing punk ass cousin teach you?"

"Oh, you know, the missionary position."

"Gag me," she throws me the keys and gets inside.

I put the car into reverse. Turning on to the road, I roll down the window.

"You were just kidding about that missionary thing right? Kyle was your first. I know you never said that he was but I've got this sixth sense about these things."

I move the car into third.

"You always keeping everything inside, but I can read through the lines. I'm good at that. Nothing and nobody gets past Maria de Luca."

I switch to the inside lane. Picking up speed, the wind whips my hair around my face.

She places her hand over her mouth. "You lost your virginity to Sean didn't you? That's why you would never tell me who it was?"  
  
"I never told you, because it is private."  
  
"I'm going to be sick, and it feels like there's seventy pound weight on my legs. Where's your cellphone?"  
  
"In my purse. What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm calling my loser cousin, and I'm reaming his ass out. It maybe eight years too late, but hell he's getting it from me. Then I'm going back to the house, and I'm reaming Max's ass out to, because you would have never done it if it hadn't been for his little unholy union."  
  
"Are you done?"  
  
"I'm just getting started. What were you thinking?"  
  
I turn on the radio.  
  
She eyes me suspiciously. "Sometimes you say things you don't mean. However, you have these moments when you say exactly what you mean but make it sound like you don't mean it." She smacks her head in frustration. "You are like a freaking onion Lizzie. You have way too many layers. Here's hoping he can get underneath them all?"  
  
"Who?" My grip tightens around the steering wheel.  
  
"Mr. Erickson."  
  
"He can't." I say firmly glancing down on my stomach.  
  



	10. Crazy

I just wanted to apologize for the delay. The document manager got me frustrated. It doesn't let you put plus or equal signs in it so it's going to make a part of this a little bit unclear. When you get down to it, just image it's an equation. I'm sorry to have to post and run but I just wanted to thank everyone for their responses. It means alot and keep me writing.

* * *

Chapter Ten: Crazy

"I'm going to tie him up by his toe nails or maybe I'll try the Braveheart approach. I think I'd enjoy having him drawn and quartered. You know poison could be good."

After twenty minutes in which three rants have been absorbed into one, I have no idea if she's talking about Michael, Max or even Sean. Instead, I watch her red fire engine nails dance animatedly around her. Flaying up and down in time with her pitch, it's almost like watching a ballet. Suddenly, her small white hand transforms into the slender bronze one that patched the hole in my stomach. "You're okay now," but the moment I replay his voice the scene changes to a time when I was definitely not okay. This time there is no gentle arch or show of knuckles. I imagine they all had ten fingers leading into two hands. Some must have chewed on their nails while others might have had dents in their digits from wearing rings. I use the word imagine, because I can't be certain of anything except for the puddles of blood and bone and of the little brown hand now freed of Kaposi's sarcoma that pulled me away from it. Whether she was an angel or a figment of my own grief, she was there to me.

"Earth to Liz. You know I'm crying out my heart here," her voice grows serious. "What happened in Vietnam?"

"Brian and I made love," I blurt hoping to distract her.

She rolls down the car window. "DID YOU HEAR THAT WORLD? LIZ PARKER GOT IT ON WITH A NORSE GOD."

"Maria."

"Now, we need to get drunk to celebrate you having the best sex of your life," she pauses. "Only it wasn't was it?"

"It was nice."

"Nice," Maria repeats skeptically. "The way he looks at you Liz. It isn't supposed to be nice. It's supposed to be earth shattering. He's supposed to make your eyes roll back into your head and give you the biggest org"

"Could we stop talking about this?"

"No."

"Maria," I groan.

"You're lonely," she states empathetically.

"Who doesn't feel that way sometimes?"

"My point is that you need to feel a part of something. If you were in a relationship with someone, he could be your family."

I focus all my attention in front of me.

"I know you miss them. They were like your little piece of Nirvana. No matter, the changes in your own life you could go back to them and the Crashdown. They were your roots."

"I'm supposed to go out and get some new roots by having hot and sweaty sex with someone."

"You're supposed to achieve this by letting someone in. I know something happened to you in Vietnam something Czech related. Why do you think I got into it with Michael? He was pumping me like I was some narc, because Max Hari sent him. Is that what you think I am? Is that why you came home didn't tell me a word about it and then flew off to Africa? I'm your best friend Liz."

"I'm begging you don't ask me anymore about this," I warn as I feel the same nervous energy left over from my encounter with Max shake off its drowsiness and open its eyes.

"I'm sure there is a very good reason you've taken to wearing a hand me down accessory from Michael Jackson, but like with everything else you aren't going to tell me. "

A red spark wraps around the leather of the steering wheel.

"You can put on a light show worthy of Vegas over there, but you are going to talk to me."

Painfully, she moves both her legs up and down.

"Your legs still bothering you."

"Don't change the subject. Michael was going on like you were some female Darth Vader who was capable of destroying the whole world. I told him to get Max off whatever he's been smoking. It takes basically all of your strength to do that green ecto plasma drip thing you do."

My breathing becomes labored. Feeling trapped and cornered; deadly warmth spreads out through my hands. "Maria please," but she pays no attention to my warning.

"Michael says you're broken. That's the exact word he used. I nearly knocked his head off for that comment alone. So I was like Michael how does one become broken? Well apparently, there's you and then there's another person and that's it. All the other broken aliens go skitzo, because they can't handle it."

Hydrogen Helium. What is the third element in the Periodic Table?

She grabs my arm.

My hand flies off the steering wheel, and a red burst shoots out from it. Frozen with a sick sense of horror, the blast is millimeters from Maria's head when a green shield springs up in front of her. Bouncing off it, the energy sputters harmlessly to the floor.

I pull the car over stare at my best friend and the little boy sitting on her lap.

Maria looks at me then at Seth and back at me again. Her lips move, but no sound comes out of them. She's speechless.

A putrid taste fills my mouth. Opening the door, the remnants of my dinner stream out on to the gravel. I rip off Khivar's glove and let it drop to the ground.

"Liz."

I'm too much of a coward to turn and see the fear that I've put on her face. We've been friends for nearly twenty years, but she never signed on for this. Yet, most of all I don't want to hear her tell me to get lost. I nearly died when Max did it, and I wouldn't survive it if Maria did it. Wiping my lips, I study my hands. He was a healer. Why couldn't he have made me one? I touch Sierra's bracelet. I would have been able to have save her then.

"Liz, look at me."

"I'm sorry," my shoulders shake. "I don't know what's happening to me. I have no control over it anymore. Everything inside of me is going to crap."

"Liz, babe it's okay."

"It's not okay. I just tried to kill you. If he..." I gesture to Seth, but the words refuse to come to me, because the thought alone is enough to make my mind shut down.

"It wasn't that big of a blast. It wouldn't have hurt me."

Seth shakes his head. "Nope, it was huge. It would have shot her head right off if I hadn't been here. There would have been blood and guts all over the place. I saw"

Maria covers his mouth. "He's over exaggerating."

"What's exzackerating?" comes Seth's muffled voice.

She hands me my cell phone. "I doubt Max knows about junior's little field trip. Why don't you call him."

Seth yanks Maria's hand away from his mouth. "He doesn't need you calling him. He's very busy you know."

I stare at my phone like it's a snake. Talking to Max is really not something I'm into right now.

"Call him, and I'll tell my dad what you did in the hot place."

A red light spirals up my arm. I glance down to see Khivar's glove back on my hand.

"He has to start listening to the things that I see. I told him not to let you leave, and he did."

"So you ran away to teach him a lesson?" I ask.

"I would never do that to my dad. He's the best dad ever. He's brave and a lot smarter than you are. I left him a note so he wouldn't be worried. Sierra told me to come so I had to."

"Sierra," I croak. "Who's Sierra?"

"Stop yelling at me Liz."

I've barely raised my voice.

"I'm not afraid of you," he puffs out his chest. "I'm not going to let you mess everything up again. It's your fault my powers don't work right. Now you've showed up, and my sister isn't going to get born because of you. Liz, Liz, Liz it's all they talk about. I'm sick of it, and I'm sick of you."

Getting out of the car, I slam the door hard.

"Where are you going Liz?" Seth demands as he sticks his head out the window.

"I'm calling your godmother."

"No, you can't do that. She'll chase me around the kitchen with the big knife, because I mind warped her. She won't make me any glowing macaroni ever again."

"Maybe, you deserve it."

"I have to stay with you. I keep telling everyone that, and they aren't listening to me." He blows a piece of hair out of his eyes. "It's so frustrating. They never tell me what's going on."

"Join the club."

"I wouldn't join any club you're in. What did you just do?"

"Dialed your godmother."

"How do you have her phone number? I bet you mind raped her to get it."

"You're really funny."

"You're funny looking."

Someone picks up on the second ring but instead of a hearty warm female voice, it's a man, Max's to be exact. I shake my head. Will this woman ever stop?

I hold the phone away from me as he says something again in Antarian, which makes Klingon sound like French. "It's me."

"Is Seth with you?" His question comes out as a demand but I can hear the quite desperation behind it.

"Yes."

He takes a harsh breath. "What the hell were you thinking leaving like that?"

"So it's my fault?"

"You can't be impulsive where a child is concerned."

"Thank you Dr. Spock, but he's isn't my child." I expect him to come back with some caustic remark, but instead he answers me with a long and telling silence.

"Serena has my hotel room number. You can pick him up there."

"Liz."

My heart flutters at the way he says my name. Entering through my ear and traveling to my brain, it creates the same jolt of excitement that his lips teasing mine would. This isn't good.

"What?" I try and steel my voice wanting to answer his warmth with an ice cold, but I hear the breathiness in it. I'm sure he does to.

"It's not important."

"Fine," I hang up the phone and get back into the car.

Seth's head pops up between Maria and my seat. "Did Serena seem mad? You think she'll still make me macaroni?"

"It turns out Serena gave me your dad's number."

"Why would she do something like that?" He pauses, "you don't want my dad to put babies in you do you?"

I snort.

"Trust me junior that's the last thing you have to worry about it."

"Good," he tries to get back on to Maria's lap.

"Oh, no, you don't junior. No more giving your Auntie Maria hemorrhoids."

"I have to sit up here."

"Seth get in the back seat please," I say with as much sweetness that I can muster.

"Did I ask you Liz?"

"Fine," I start the car. "Crash through the windshield for all I care."

"You know she's right junior."

"I have to sit up here. I don't know why. I just have to. That's a pretty song."

Maria grabs my ringing phone.

"Who is it?"

"Brian."

"He tried to call me before, but Serena abducted my phone. What should I do?"

"Talk to him."

"I don't want to lie to him. I can't do it again."

"Tell him the truth."

"He won't believe me."

"Show him what you can do." Maria picks up Larek's folder from the floor. "Whatever this is, you're going to need his help with it."

"My dad doesn't need his help or yours. He's going to figure it out all by himself."

Maria pats his head. "Junior, this is girl talk. When girls are talking about a boy, boys can't talk. They have to listen. That's the rule."

A bit of blush creeps into Seth's cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a rule. Does that make me bad for breaking it?"

She ruffles his hair. "I forgive you."

"Kay."

The phone stops ringing.

"But you see you two talked so long, and now he's isn't there anymore."

I chew on my bottom lip.

"You need to have a plan for when you talk to him for real."

Maria starts to giggle. "You are your father's son."

He starts. "Really? I try really hard to act like him."

"Why don't you act like yourself?" Maria asks.

"I can't ever do that," he says seriously.

"Why?" I ask.

"Was I talking to you Liz?"

"Hey, be nice."

"I'm talking to you not her. You're nice, and Liz is just Liz," he grumbles.

"Could you open up Larek's folder for me?" I ask needing to focus on something.

"There's a computer disc and a note in it."

"Read, it please."

"Liz. It â€attention...emissaryâ€manipulatedâ€Maxâ€sorry," Maria brings the paper closer to her face, "God, he has awful handwriting. He must be a doctor."

"Nope, he used to be teacher."

"The body snatcher and I are in the same profession. Oh, that's comforting he's going around the world, snatching up little children right and left."

"Larek wouldn't do that. He likes kids. That's why his heart is sad, because Khivar killed his son."

"So Miranda isn't his daughter then?"

"No, Liz she isn't," he snits.

"They couldn't stop talking about this chick at the party. Apparently, she does this thing with a pair of knives and a cigarette lighter. She..."

"She was married to Larek's son," Seth interrupts. Lifting his head like some startled gazelle, he looks over the back of the seat. "Go faster," he breathes heavily.

"Seth?"

"I SAID GO FASTER," a force compels my foot down on the accelerator. Gears grind together as the car shimmies.

"STOP THAT. ARE YOU NUTS?"

"NUTS IS WHAT'S BEHIND US."

My eyes flick to the rearview mirror. "There's nothing..."

Our heads jerk forward as something hits us from behind.

"She's here. Daddy said he would never let her near me again, but she's here, and he isn't. She supposed to be in jail because that's where bad people go. If he put her in jail then why is she here."

"Honey, you need to tell us who you're talking about."

I look frantically between the side view and rear mirrors. "There's nothing," and then it hits me. "You're talking about your mom aren't you?"

"She isn't my mom," he practically roars at me. "I may of lived in her tummy for a little while, but she will never be my mom." He yanks us down beside the dashboard.

The car swerves rubbing up against the guard rail. Sparks jump off the car's body. Seconds later a yellow bolt crashes through the back window and whizzes out the front leaving a jagged hole right where my head would have been. I grab hold of the spinning steering wheel. "Is she insane? Can you see her Seth? Seth?"

"It's like he's in shock. What does she have the parenting skills of Joan Crawford?"

I flick my head to see Seth sucking his thumb. "I'm such an idiot. He never calls her mom. I just assumed that they had this perfect little family. They were supposed to be perfect. Why aren't they perfect?" I up shift and check the mirrors again.

"I guess that's why he such a punk ass to you," Maria turns around in her seat and looks out the back.

"I'm sure she filled his head with all kind of nice stories about me. No wonder he hates me. "

"If he hadn't grabbed, you would have been splattered all over the place" she says in a strained voice that tells me that she's nearing Maria meltdown mode. "He would have been sitting behind us. God, she would have killed her own son."

"She could be anywhere."

Another hit comes from the back causing the tires to lift up.

"She's trying to tip us. Hold on." I yank the steering wheel in the direction of the hit. While my eyes see an empty space, I can hear metal scrape against metal.

"What are you going to do road rage on her butt? Seth wake up. We need a plan." She grabs my cell phone.

A large thud sounds, and the tires roll over something. In the mirror, I see our mangled bumper lying on the highway.

"Out of range. How I'm supposed to tell him that his psychotic wife is trying to run us off the road and that your playing bumper cars with her right now and to get his ass out here and do something. Freaking T Mobile. How many times I have told you Liz to get Verizon? Just because they have Catherine Zeta-Jones selling their freaking phone doesn't make it better. Why the hell isn't anyone on this road?"

Straining my ears, I can hear the faint sounds of laughter. Tess's laughter. Bingo. A red bolt forms over the steering wheel, but this time it doesn't buzz with electricity. It burns with fire. I can literally feel the warmth against my face.

"Holy shit, Liz. Michael never did that. Let it go. Blow the blonde bitch up."

"I don't know how. When I was fighting with Max, it sort of just happened."

"The two of you were fighting with blasts, and here I thought Michael and I had issues. "

A two small hands pulls both of us down for the second time as an orange bolt spirals through the driver and passenger's windows shattering a second wave of glass upon us.

"I'm get really annoyed here."

"Tess is annoying," Seth answers. "I'm sorry for going on vacation. I sort of do it when she's around, but it's not going to happen again. " A fierce determination shines in his face that is all his father's. In this moment, I'm grateful for the resemblance.

"Next time you go. You're taking me with you," Maria answers. "I'm buying myself a little drink with one of those pink umbrellas in it. I'm going to get the pool boy to rub"

"Maria, I don't mean to be mean, but this is not the time. You can only talk if it has to do with the current problem so shhhh. Are you okay Liz?" He asks with a calmness that is almost laughable under the situation.

I don't answer. My mind is too busy doing flip-flops. Future Max said he needed to be with Future Tess. I really don't think Present Max would stand for Present Tess trying to murder Present Seth.

Which means what?

I'm so confused.

"Tess is gaining on us again. She can't keep up the speed and blast at the same time. You need to go faster."

"Go faster. Good idea."

"You're doing a very good job driving."

"I need my cedar oil."

"Maria, remember the rule," Seth advises. "Everything is going to be okay. Liz won't let her hurt us."

"Alright, alright, then why is she trying to kill Liz other than stating the obvious?"

"She wants to be a meaglan so she could have more power than my dad. He's got the most. He can do almost anything. That's why he's the king."

Glancing down, I see the necklace is glowing again.

"_Can everyone emissary?"_

_"No, it's extremely difficult. It takes a huge amount of control not to get completely sucked into the vessel's memories."_

No, it isn't possible so cut it out psycho necklace. I really don't need this right now.

"_How did you know those things?" I demand._

"_Flashes." _

Max knew because of flashes. Despite all that he did, he was never a liar.

_"I didn't think my hair looked that bad." _

_"Personally, I've always liked it longer." _

He's not the only man with a hair fetish.

"_You hide it well, but sometimes it comes out. I think someone hurt you very badly." _

_"No more than I hurt her." He swallows. "Were you dreaming about what happen in the jungle?"_

_"This woman, who was she?"_

_He touches my cheek. _

It's a coincidence

_"How do you know? I could be some scaly alien posing as a human."_

_"Here I thought I was the only one doing that." _

_I smack him. "You're such a dork." _

I frown.

"_Roswell has an observatory."_

_Abruptly, he sits up. _

My nails dig into the leather of the steering wheel. How could he do this to me? He actually made me want him.

"_Parker," Brian groans thrusting inside me while my dull nails rake hungrily down his muscular back. _

"WAKE UP," Seth's voice shrieks in my head. "Maria can go on vacation all she wants. You can't."

He grabs my hand and almost immediately I feel his skittish force enter into me. Swirling around, it merges with mine with a surprising ease.

A flash of him hunched over at a table enters my mind. He looks to be all of five years old. Writing bits of gibberish that could be Antarian mixed in with English, his face is contorted into a rage. "I'm not bad. Talen is wrong," he mumbles.

Furiously, he scribbles on the paper.

Daddy Good

Tess Bad

Daddy Tess Seth

Good Bad Seth

He scrawls Seth

Created by two very powerful people, he is lost in their shadow. In his mind, he has elevated Max to highest of pinnacles and thrown Tess into the lowest of caverns. There is good, and there is bad, which leaves no room for him.

Day after day, he stares at the paper looking for his place. Until one morning, he finds an answer written in neat capital letters.

Sethmy brother.

I love him.

He breaks down. Shoulders shaking, he can't stop crying. No longer is it about being good or bad. It's about being a brother. Yes, he decides he can do that. He will make his little sister or brother glowing macaroni every day because that is what a good older brother does. Finally, he wipes his eyes. Picking up the paper, the tears start anew. The message is gone. He is no brother. He is only Seth, and it will never be good enough.

I feel a tear drip down my cheek. Through our connection, I try and tell him that he is own person, but he isn't interested in listening to me. He's all about concentrating on the issue at hand. In an orderly fashion, I feel him tighten the bond around us. He exerts complete control over the situation. Yet, unlike Khivar, never once does he to try spin the calculated web of power and domination around me. I can still feel Liz Parker alive and humming within the union.

He might have half of Max's chromosomes in him, but his touch doesn't trigger the uncontrollable deluge that threatened to drown me earlier. Unlike his father's muted and unreadable thoughts, his desires are quick and to the point. He wants the bad lady to go away. His simplistic need for safety activates the most potent burst of energy I've ever experienced. I practically gift wrapped her son for her, and she ripped him to shreds. I'm going to kill her for it.

"What the hell are you two doing?" I hear Maria scream. "How are you connecting to him and still driving the car?" Her voice seems near and far away at the same time.

Two green burning fireballs join the red one.

"Can I?" comes his mental request. "There isn't time to teach you how."

"Go ahead," I say aloud.

"Go get Tess," he orders as three balls whiz out my window.

Behind us, a large explosion sounds. Looking through the rearview mirror, I see a burning sports car, and a small figure with curly blonde hair emerge from it. "You okay Maria?"

"I can't do this again Liz. I love Michael, but it's never going to end is it?"

I want to tell her that it will end and that they will defeat Khivar and Tess, but the world they live in seems to have a never ending stream of bad guys who seem to go after even the most smallest of victims. "I don't think so," I finally answer.

Moodily, she stares out of the broken passenger window.

Beside me, Seth lets go of my hand and emptiness, my ever-faithful companion, returns. "Be careful of the glass," I warn as he starts to crawl into the back seat.

"Don't tell me what to do," he snaps looking out of the blasted window.

His words hurt. The fact that at one moment I felt connected to him and had a purpose, which apparently was another one of those grand alien illusion hurts even more. Maybe, there's some gene that Max passed along to him.

The "How to Screw Liz Parker Over" gene.

Screw.

My thoughts turn deadly.

He raped me. Is it rape if I wanted him to? If he's been Brian all this time, do I want Max or Brian? He used Brian's body like it was some toy. What if he it hurt him? Does Brian even want me?

In silence, we arrive at the hotel carport in a car that has certainly seen better days. Getting out of the car, my legs feel like lead. I rub my eyes. I really need some sleep. I lower the seat so Seth can get out. Noticing a bit of blood on his forehead, I reach over to wipe it away.

A green blast nearly takes my head off. "Don't touch me," he snarls. "This is all your fault."

I glare at him. It's funny. One moment I want to protect him with my life while the next I want to ring his little scrawny neck. I take a breath. "You hate me. I get that. You want to throw a fit fine, but we are in public so you need to act like it, because if someone saw that a lot of bad things could happen to you."

From over the roof, I see Maria staring at me with a weird expression on her face.

"What?" I soften my voice.

"You just used the mom voice."

"I DON'T NEED A MOM."

"Tell it to someone who cares," I push him forward while I link arms with Maria.

"Why are you making me be the leader? I don't even know where we're going. I've never been to this stupid place before."

"Go straight. You okay?"

"Okay has always been a relative term with us," she sighs.

"What I said about you and Michael, I didn't mean it."

"Yes, you did."

"Grandma Claudia told me once that if things aren't complicated than the person isn't really worth it."

"Liz if I keep going straight I'm going to run into the wall," Seth yells in front of us.

"Does he have to take everything I say literally?" I whisper. "You see the plastic button push it."

"Cool it lights up."

"You know he's testing you," Maria says, "to see what your limits are."

"Considering my current state of mind, I don't think that's a really good idea. He should try testing you for a change."

"You don't get it. He views you as an authority figure."

"That's impossible," I scoff.

"I'm right here. I can hear you even though I can't understand those big words you keep using. My dad never teaches me the right words and then he doesn't even tell me what they really mean."

The elevator doors open. Maria and I get on while Seth stays frozen on the other side.

"Seth get on the elevator."

"What's an elevator?"

I press the open button.

"It's like a flying carpet."

"Maria that's impossible. Carpets don't fly. I think it would be safer if we took the stairs."

"Elevators are like moving stairs. You go up all the flights, but you don't have to do the work," I answer.

"That's just being lazy." He studies the crack between the carriage and the floor. "We should take the stairs. My dad never told me anything about elevators." He sticks his head in further. "It's a very small space in there."

"It's even better inside."

He takes a couple of tentative steps and then a couple of more. "I thought you said this thing moved."

"Press the button with a ten on it."

"Look this one lights up to," he squeals.

The carriage pushes upwards and instantly I feel his arms around my waist. "Liz make it stop. I don't like this. I want to get off."

"Seth watch the floor counter. We're almost there."

"NO, NO, MAKE IT STOP."

Maria presses the open button, and we get off on the third floor. "I guess it's the stairs for us. My butt was getting a little too fat anyway."

"We should probably start him off on escalators and move up to the elevators," I open the door to the stairwell.

"I'm not getting on anything that begins with an e ever again." He says charging up the first flight of stairs. "Come on what's taking you two so long?"

"Was Max ever this hyper? Liz, what's wrong?"

Seth's head peeks down over the railing two floors above us.

"I'll tell you later."

"For real."

"Definitely for real."

"Okay, I definitely feel the burn now. I got to cut out the booze."

"What is booze Maria?" He calls down to us.

"Inquisitive little thing isn't he? It's bug juice."

"EWWW."

"Only people that are twenty one and older can drink it."

"Oh really." I smile at her.

"There's a clause that says that young girls that get their hearts broken by alien and human scum a like can partake in a little of the water of life from time to time. Thank God, we're here," she opens the door to the hallway.

"You don't have to worry. I've already checked for scions." Seth tells her.

Maria shivers. "Let's not talk about the tentacle creatures."

"Don't be scared Maria. I'll protect you. There's no bad people anywhere around."

"Please, tell me your room isn't at the end. I'm five seconds from becoming road kill."

"It's two doors down."

"Would it have a mini bar?"

"I believe it does." I touch the knob, and a strange feeling bubbles in my stomach. I motion to Seth. "Can you unlock this?"

"Why are you whispering?"

"Just unlock it for me and do it very quietly."

"Liz, if there's someone in your room then we need to get the hell out of here. I get you're like Xena Alien Princess now, but you have no idea what you're doing."

Seth places his hand on the door. "My dad is in there." He pops open the door.

I walk in to find the comforter and sheets thrown on the floor along with my clothes. In the center of the chaos stands Max Evans.

Without out a single thought, the biggest fire ball I have ever formed flies off my fingers and straight for his head.

* * *

Things may look a little bad right now, but since this is a pov what Liz thinks happend may have not necessarily happend.


	11. Silence

I just wanted to thank everyone for their reviews. I'm the biggest review whore. It really does keep me writing.

Val Vietnam is sort of in the open. There is more. There's a lot more. The past. The present. It's really confusing. Let's just say that there's a lot that has been moving around Liz that she has not been aware of.

Beth 1685 I really enjoy reading your responses. They always get me fired up to write another chapter. I'm glad you like the relationship building between Seth and Liz. It's going to hit a couple of road bumps, but they are quite vital to each other.

Lovedbytheangels Tess is going to suffer. What she's done to Seth is only the tip of the iceberg. Sufficient to say Tess has reached new and very interesting lows since Liz has last seen her. However, Liz is going to be putting the beat down on the blonde in the near future.

Julieanna Max has been emisarying Brian. It's like what Larek did to the security guard and Broody. Liz is currently pissed off because she doesn't know whether Max was in Brian's body or it was actually Brian she slept with. It's rather odd. This chapter should help explain it better.

JeNsEns Wifey Chadz lover You crack me up with your responses. Tess Jr. that's the greatest name for Seth.

Thanks again to Magiclighting, Royoko-chan, Bri, Chraisma2, Guest type person, Ba Shipper, Gigi246, ekmw 511, Sweet like Chocolate, Me-liah-stroud

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Silence

Robert Frost once asked if the world would end with fire or ice. While I can't answer that question, watching my blast whiz across the room, I can surely tell you how Max Evans' world is going to end. My fiery orb is just milliseconds from melting his inhuman face right off his alien body when a bright light engulfs him. Green like the sky prior to a tornado, he disappears just before my blast strikes in one unearthly pulse. Seeping into my eyes, it eats away at everything else. Shapes, textures and other points of reference become meaningless against the brilliant unearthly color that pulsates before my eyes.

I'm drowning in it.

I'm drowning in him.

_Nervously, I shift my weight. "I can do this. It's the right thing to do." My knuckles brushes against the door but refuse to the strike the wood. "Whom am I kidding? I can't do this," I breathe taking a couple of steps back. Clutching a box of Men in Blackberry pie, I stare at the latticed door. "You have to do this." _

_I raise my trembling hand and knock at his door. A slight shuffling noise comes from the other side as I try to steady the shaking box in my hands. The door opens, and my _

_stomach dips. "Hi Kyle. I brought you your favorite. I was just wanted to come by and see how you were since they...Tess.. left.. and..and .and.....um..." God, I sound like Porky Pig. I shake the box up and down trying desperately to put into words all that I need to say to him. Yet, like with everything else the beginning is always the most difficult. My thoughts drift back to the night of the Crashdown Festival when I stood at this very doorstep and lied and manipulated my very ass off all to protect Max. Day after day, I would go home and do the very same thing to my parents. I was his puppet. I crush the box's corners in my hands. _

"_Kyle, I've done some things that I'm not proud of. I want to think that it was, because I was in love. But, love isn't supposed to hurt everyone around it. I just got lost, or I was obsessed." A bad taste fills my mouth as I remember the day I accused him of stealing my journal. "I believed in the wrong person. I wanted to thank you for defending me that day at...Al..Alex's." For the first time, I feel my nerves lessen enough to look up at him. At the sight of his stoic face, I jerk the box up hard and watch the bottom and pie drop on to the ground. "I'm so stupid." I stoop and begin to pick up the blood red covered pieces. _

_His warm hand reaches out and covers mine own. "Don't worry. I'll get a broom." _

_Not looking up, the two words that sum up everything I've been trying to communicate in the past five minutes comes tumbling out. "I'm sorry." _

"_I know you are." _

_With a suddenly new found courage, I meet his eyes. "I'm sorry for everything. You never once deserved how I treated you." _

"_It's in the past. Buddha teaches that to hold a grudge expels too much energy. I let go of whatever I was feeling for you a long time ago." _

_I flinch. Letting go of Liz Parker seems to be quite an easy thing to do nowadays. "Good. okay," I nod jerkily. _

"_It doesn't mean I don't miss being friends with you Liz, because I do."_

_My lips form a shaky smile. _

"_Just promise me one thing." _

"_Yes." _

"_When Prince Valiant comes back, stay away from him, because he'll drown you if you let him," he says bitterly looking past the screened door. _

_Following his glance, I can barely make out his father asleep in an easy chair. _

"_He did it to my dad, and he did it to Tess. Max destroys people, Liz. " _

"_Even if he ever was to come back, I'd never let him get that close to me again," I vow. _

"_Good, because he's coming back Liz." _

"_How do you know?"_

"_Because things between you two aren't over yet," he says grimly. _

Whether it's mind or matter or my powers trumping his, the green curtain over my eyes lifts. With my human eyes, I scan the room for Max, but he isn't here. Yet, my sight isn't the only thing to reawaken. Moving restlessly inside of me, it wants out of the dark womb that is my body. I stiffen. The skin in the center of my palms is puckering. Oh God. I spin around to Maria and Seth intending to tell them to get the hell away from me. However, an entirely different plan springs to mind when I see Max's mirror image looking back at me.

"_It would be so easy," I hear Khivar's voice echo in my ear._

I advance.

A green shield shoots out from Seth's outstretch hand and surrounds him and Maria.

"Liz," Maria says finally moving her mouth from its perpetual o shape position. "Your eyes are glowing."

"It happens."

"No, it doesn't just happen except if you're Homer Simpson and take a bath in a nuclear reactor."

Reaching out, I skim my fingers across Seth's shimmering shield. At my touch, the color dims and fades away.

His eyes grow large. "You're good." he whispers harshly as if trying to convince himself.

I trail my hand down his cheek spreading little green sparks over his skin.

"You loved that little girl, and she didn't even come from your tummy."

"You look too much like your father."

He grabs my hand. Around our grasp, small green swirls of light come from both of us. "I don't like Tess, Liz."

I jerk away. Grabbing the edges, he pulls off my glove.

"That belongs to me." Red sparks replace the green ones while I ignore the little voice that tells me that I should just blow him away and take it back.

"You have to believe in me," he pleads. "I get that now."

"It doesn't matter what I believe."

Something sharp jabs against my neck. "May I suggest if you want to live that you kindly remove your hands from my son's face." Max hisses.

"Where the hell have you been?" Maria demands. "What's up with acting like a glow worm and going AWOL when Liz is definitely going through...I'm not really getting what she's going through, but it's definitely is your fault. So I suggest you fix it."

"Oh, I plan to."

"Not before I fix you first darling," I purr.

"Seth put the enrinye on the table right now," he says with an edge in his voice.

He touches the glove with an almost reverence. "You don't have to worry. It isn't calling to me. It belongs to Liz."

"Yeah and maybe you should be a good boy and give it back to me," I say.

Max increases the pressure of whatever he has against my neck.

Seth shakes his head. "You're very confused. Dad, let me keep it. I'll give it back to Liz when she needs it."

"Put the enrinye on the table Seth."

"Okay," he lays it down. "It's just going to go back to Liz. It likes her." 

"No, it doesn't."

"Just because you want things to be a certain way doesn't mean that there really that way," he answers Max.

"That was really profound junior."

Max lets out a harsh breath. "Now, both of you out. Liz and I need to talk."

Talking is the last thing on my mind right now.

"Oh hell no," Maria answers folding her arms across her chest. "Whatever twisted alien voodoo you're going to do on her, you can do it in my presence."

"Maria, you and Seth are going to wait for me in the lobby," Max says as his voice takes on an almost hypnotic like quality.

"That's a wonderful idea, Max. You're such a genius. Yes, we're going to wait in the lobby. Come on Seth." She heads to the door, but Seth lags behind her.

"Great you're like an evil Jedi. Get out of her head," I shriek.

"I'm not hurting her."

"Are you planning to use that on me?"

"It doesn't work on you, dear."

"That was what all that 'you're not going to the counsel meeting crap' was, wasn't it? And don't call me dear. I'm not your dear."

"Well, I'm not your darling."

"Just so you know, I'm planning on pulling an Uma and murdering you Kill Bill style," I answer in my best peachy accent. "Considering what you've done to me, I think it should make us even."

Seth looks on at us rather strangely. "What is she talking about? What does murder mean?"

"See, I do this very interesting thing with my hands. There's blood, guts, puss, coughing. You could say that I have people literally drop dead at my feet. It's rather ironic in a way."

"Seth, go with Maria."

"Dad, Liz made..."

"Now."

"Okay."

The door closes behind them.

"I wasn't going to hurt him."

"Why do you think you're still breathing?"

"Oh, I don't know, because you thought I was a good lay."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The same chill from before drips down my back. I feel myself slip from his hands.

I pause in front of the mirror and stare at my missing reflection. Dracula eat your heart out.

" Could you stop schiening every five seconds?"

Hoisting myself up on to the dresser, I watch the King of Antar turning around the room trying to get a gauge on my location. A flustered look takes root on his usually unreadable face. Some things never change. This is almost too easy. "Here you said you let me be in control," I chide him.

"You can be in control Liz when you stop acting out of it."Walking around several of my shirts towards the sound of my voice, he stops right in front of me.

My legs under their own volition wrap around his. I close my eyes as his warmth seeps into me. Leaning closer, his alluring scent surrounds me. I breathe him in to me.

He is everywhere, but I'm now drowning again.

Lifting my hands off the dresser, I frown. My glove is back on my hand, but the fingers have been cut at the knuckles, and the puckering in my palms have stopped. Damn alien powers. I don't think Max is going to be giving me a manual on how to use them anytime soon. "You were always a killjoy. That should have been my first clue, because Brian is a thrill seeker."

"What?" Alarm enters his amber eyes.

Green and red sparks swirl around my waist. Pooling my anger, my hurt and my rage, I'm going to blow his freaking head off. It happens so fast. I barely have time to register it. One moment, I'm slamming my burning hands into his chest. The next moment the mattress creaks as he pushes me down on it. Pinning my wrists over my head in an iron grip, my breasts heave up and down as my heart threatens to burst right out of my chest. Enraged, I try and kick him in the groin, but he captures my thigh.

His controlled movements counterpoint my angry thrashings.

_"What is a meaglan?"_

_"Power and weakness, destruction and life, yin and yang." _

From my pinned hands, a series of red blasts shoot erratically. Nicking the wall, they have no real intensity behind them. My energy is spent. Fear trickles into to me, but it makes no dent in my growing anger. "Was Vietnam not good enough for you? You want to try raping me in your own body. How could you do that to me?"

The moment the words leave my lips I feel the iron grip holding me dissolve. Abruptly, he sits up. With his back turned toward me, I watch his muscles tighten as he focuses on some spot on the floor.

Clinching my fist, a small red light sputters from my fingers.

"You've shorted yourself out."

I try again.

"You keep doing that you're going to give yourself a bad headache."

"Then I'll take some Advil."

"Tylenol works better."

"You raped me and you're concerned if I have a headache."

He whips around to me.

I scoot away from his face that is covered with so many emotions it almost hurts to look at it.

"How could you ever accuse me of that?"

"Oh, I don't know, because it happened."

"No, it didn't."

"LIAR," I scream.

"I'm not lying," he whispers as soft meets loud in opposition.

My harsh breaths weave around his even ones. I struggle to remain calm.

"Why would I do that? When every kiss and every caress you gave me would be for him.

Not me," he answers bitterly. "After all, I'm the evil alien king that broke your heart."

"Don't you dare use my words against me."

"Then stop reacting to everything and think for a change. You never used to be so impulsive."

"You son of..."

He holds his hands up to silence me. "If I had kissed you, you would have gotten a flash from me."

"It wasn't your body."

"No, but it was still my mind. There's no way I could have covered that up in a kiss especially with _you_." Getting up, he moves to the window and looks down at the city.

I blink.

Seconds elapses but to me it feels like hours. While I suspected, suspecting and knowing are two different things. Rubbing my temples together, bits and pieces from a nearly seven year relationship flash through my mind.

"_I think I could love you maybe." _

I cover my hand with my mouth. It was Max that night.

He twirls the curtains around his wrist. "You should know I never once deluded myself into thinking that you cared Liz, if that's what you're worried about."

"I kissed him...you that night. I didn't get a flash."

"It was hardly what one would consider a kiss. You were scared when you did it, and it has to be a little more intense than that."

Yet, I felt whole. My face blanches. "How long have you been doing this to him?"

He answers only with the bobbing of his Adam's apple.

"Answer me, damn it." I order getting off the bed. "Do you think you can just leech off Brian and me and not be held accountable? What if you had hurt him?"

He whips away from the window and grabs my shoulders. "It was never my intention to hurt him or you. You go on and on about how I abandoned you. Well, it turns out. I didn't entirely. You're going to sit here and berate me for it."

"Hmm, I don't recall you ever saying 'Hey, Liz guess what?'"

He lets go of me and collected alien Max returns. Picking up my shirts, he starts folding them.

"So you got horny and thought you might take trip down here to feel me up?"

"Did I ever make a pass at you?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"You're life hasn't been entirely easy the last couple of years. You may not want to admit it, but you needed me to talk to."

"I don't need you for a damn thing. I have Maria."

"Things between you and Maria haven't been right since Alex."

"You're certifiable."

"She didn't support you when you thought," he stops folding as an almost sick expression crosses his features. "When you thought aliens had killed him, she shot you down. It's why you keep her at arm's length."

"My relationship with her is fine. You're the one that shot me down. You ended our friendship, because I had the audacity to go against the King of Antar," I snit.

"That's my point," he answers sadly. "The two most important people in your life..."

"You were never important to me," I interrupt.

"Alright, two people who you thought you could trust didn't support you when you needed them to. It kind of makes it difficult to let others in or commit to them, doesn't in?"

You have no idea.

Bending down, he pulls a box from underneath the bed.

Beside me, a lamp starts to brighten. "Will you stop with the breaking of the bulb bit already."

He tosses the box to me.

Catching it, I realize it's my box of condoms.

"So you and Brian are serious?"

"It's none of your business what we are."

"True. You know I like him. He cares about you a lot."

A fluttering feeling takes flight in my chest.

"I hope things work out with him."

"I want your word it wasn't you that night."

"You have it," he answers with hesitation.

Yet, I still don't know if I can believe him or not.

"You don't trust me do you?"

"You haven't been too forthcoming in the information department."

"The choices I make aren't exactly the ones that I would choose if I was free to, but I don't have any other recourse."

"Despite everything, you have free will so don't give me that crap."

"I haven't been free in very long time,"he muses more to himself than to me. "He remembers that night, right?"

"Yes."

"If it had been me," his eyes lock with mine. "I wouldn't have shared those memories with anyone Liz." As if he has said or showed me too much, he grabs a bunch of scattered papers and starts to sort them.

Feeling suddenly very vulnerable myself, I revert back to sarcasm. "You wreck my room and now you're helping me clean it up. Here, I didn't think you had any manners at all."

"I didn't wreck your room." He hands me a shirt covered in a strange yellow goop. "It's Scion blood. When I got here, I found a pod in here tearing your room apart."

"Or you decided to spray mustard all over it in keeping with your wonderful lies based around food condiments."

"The ketchup thing would have worked if you had burned your uniform."

"So it's my fault?"

"I was just stating a fact," he says in the same strained voice I've heard him use with Michael time and time again. "Could we not fight right now? I'm a little freaked that someone sent a hit team after you and Maria."

"Maybe, it's Khivar's way of showing he cares." The overhead light strengths in intensity. "God help me if you break another bulb."

The light returns to normal. "Since you're the new love of Khivar's life I don't really think it was him."

"Maybe, you should talk to your darling destiny about that."

He flinches. "Tess isn't a player in this."

"Well, your destiny tried to run your progeny off the road tonight."

"WHAT?" he snaps looking very distressed.

I feel a pang of guilt for breaking it to him like I did. "It's what Seth was trying to tell you before you made him leave."

"Did he lose focus? Zone out?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck. He looked fine. Do you think he's fine?"

"It was only for a couple of minutes. He's got a real grace under fire. He's going to make an excellent king."

Max grimaces. "He won't ever be king, Liz."

"I know Sinon said something, but you're the king. Isn't it up to you?"

"Sinon thinks I'm going to leave it all to his little shmuck of a son."

"Why don't you leave it all to Seth then?"

"I don't want to talk about this." Grabbing my bag, he starts to stuff my clothes into it.

I cover my stomach. "I don't get it. It's why your future self came back, isn't? Maybe, we couldn't have children, and you needed to have Seth with Tess. He said you needed to be with her."

"I'm not."

"I sort of figured that out when she tried to kill her son."

"My son," he corrects rather testily.

"I'm just trying to understand," I whisper. Why he made me give you up? I finish silently. What was the point to it all? I plop down on to the bed and watch him move around the room with a grace that is all his own. While most men barrel, Max glides. It must be an alien thing. Shifting on to my side, I prop my head up onto my elbow. "You know your whole little search could go a lot faster if you told me what you're looking for."

"They were interested in this area." With his hands, he makes a circle around the dresser.

"How do you know?"

"Scions emit an oily agent from their feelers. It's all over everything here."

I sit up. "I don't see anything."

"Humans can't see it."

"Obviously, you haven't gotten the memo. I'm not exactly human anymore."

He stops searching and looks over his shoulder at me. "I'm sorry for that. I didn't know that would happen."

"It beats being dead."

"Does Kyle have powers too?"

"Yes, mine have always been stronger when they actually decide to work. Look, you don't want to tell me why Tess is trying to kill me or why Khivar sees me as some baby maker...fine. But, you need to tell me how my powers work." My eyes drift to his chest where my attempts to burn a hole in him seem to have been for naught. "I'm in danger. I'm a danger to others. I nearly blew Maria's head off in the car. You need to be straight with me and tell me what a meaglan is and why I'm connected to your son."

"Why would you say something like that?"

"We're both broken. I'm getting flashes from him, which is rather funny considering he doesn't strike me as the most open child. Throw in the fact, I want to murder his mother for him."

"Tess isn't his mother."

"Alright, you and she went to the cabbage patch and picked him out."

He's staring at me with that same infuriating unreadable expression.

My patience snaps. "Screw it. I'm done trying to understand you." I grab my bag, and my newly sorted files. I'm opening the door when his arm loops around my waist while over my head he pushes the door shut.

Try as I might, I can't ignore the delicious feel of his body pressed against mine, or the tremors he's causing to race through me.

"It's all my fault. I let it happened. I should have been there to stop it, but I wasn't," comes his hurriedly whispered confession.

The sexual haze I find myself in dissipates at the pure torture I hear in his voice.

I press my lips together.

To stay or go.

It's a rather interesting debate, since I've turned going into an art form. I close my eyes. I can't get sucked back into him again. I won't survive it.

"Parker," a knocking sounds on the other side of the door.

My eyes snap open.

His arms fly off me.

The moment has passed.

Turning around, he's reverted back to pod person Max. He motions for me to open the door.

I point to the ransacked room.

He points to his eyes.

He wants to mind warp Brian. "Hell no," I mouth.

"Come on Parker, I know you're in there."

"Just a second. I just got out of the shower, and I have to get dressed," I call telling him my second lie for the evening.

"Or you could just come to the door as is?"

The lamp shatters next to me.

Looking at Max, I smack the air. "Hurt him," I whisper, "and I'll hurt you."

How do I get myself in these situations? I'm just about to open the door when Max pulls me back.

"Your hair isn't wet," he mummers releasing it from my ponytail. Resting his palms on the side of my face, his fingers slowly travel down the slope of my head.

I shiver as strand after strand dampens, but my shivering turns to trembling when I feel his lips graze my ear.

"I think you should tell him."

I shake my head and push him away. Grabbing the knob, I thrust the door open.

"Hey, sorry I just got out of the shower."

He's leaning against the wall regarding me with a thoughtful expression. "You know you look just like that night when you were on the balcony in Vietnam, and you wouldn't come in from the rain. I remember thinking then that I hadn't seen anything more beautiful."

Only it wasn't you thinking it. I bite my lip.

"I wanted you so badly that night. It took everything I had to leave when you kissed me."

"What?"

If those are Max's feelings that would mean...

Ruthlessly, I squash that train of thought.

"I'm sorry. Here you told me you wanted to go slow, and I'm spouting stuff at you. I'm just a little philosophical right now."

"How'd the meeting go?"

"Don't ask? We're leaving for Chiapas at ten. Lena Cruz is coming with us. Her family is from the area."

"Lena Cruz, I don't think I know her."

"She's been working with me in Guatemala for the last month. Nice woman, she doesn't say much though. I think it's, because she's always getting shit for being part Mayan that and you can never get her away from her I-Pod."

He makes a move to enter, but I block him. "Why don't we go to your room?"

"Because the Mani Express has left the station, and it doesn't appear he's going to be coming home any time soon." He looks down the hall. "I'm surprised you can't hear him down here."

I smile.

"He's been out all night. It's the last time I'm letting them put me in a room with him. So please have some sympathy for me, Parker. Let me in, I promise no funny business, scout's honor."

"You got kicked out of the boy scouts."

"What I can I say. I'm not really a rules oriented person."

Slowly, I enter the room. Max isn't in here. Great, he's mind warping me to. A white piece of paper ripped off the hotel pad catches my attention. Picking it up, it's written in his familiar hand.

_Liz,_

_Somewhere along the way my life became filled with smoke and mirrors. The people that I thought were true were far from it, but instead of recognizing it I kept pushing away the very people that I needed the most. I don't want to see that happen to you. Please, tell Brian. Tell him everything._

_Max _

That's brilliant coming from you who reveals nothing. My eyes scan the room. Though he could be hiding in plain sight, somehow I know he isn't here.

"_What're you reading?" Brian asks me from the bed. _

I scrunch the paper up in my hand and throw it into the wastebasket. "A note from a really irritating acquaintance who should probably keep his advice to himself."

He pats the side of the bed next to him. "I think you need a nap. You know how you get when you're sleepy."

"This is coming from the man who couldn't stop talking about injecting Mani with the Bubonic Plague after he ate all your Twix bars." I say sitting on the bed and untying my shoes.

"Never get between me and my chocolate bars especially when I'm out in the rainforest." He lifts up the sheet, shooting in I lay my head on his chest even though I shouldn't considering the very twisted circumstances.

"Joking aside, what's really wrong?"He asks playing with the ends of my hair, "and don't tell me it's nothing. You're really upset about something."

I'm part alien. My ex alien boyfriend has been using your body for God knows how long.

He's going to get angry, and then he's going to leave. I've already been down that road. I'm not particularly itching to revisit it.

"You can tell me Parker."

"I'm going to tell you, but I just can't right now. I'm just really..." I pause not knowing what word to fill in the blank.

"Scared."

"Yes." In this instant, I understand Max the man more than I care to.


	12. The Walking Wounded

Thanks to all of you for your nice feedback. Sorry, I've been a little MIA. I just go my first big person job. It sucks. However, I have three chapters after this. So the wait isn't going to be as long.

As for Max being scary, dreamer Max is in there. You guys just have to be a little patient :) .

I have to run. So I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: The Walking Wounded

My sweaty, trembling hand flips on the bathroom switch. Squinting against the sudden change in light, I grab my toothpaste and toothbrush out of my night bag.

_His warm hand takes mine as I step on to the stool. Lifting me up, I tower over the shiny, white sink. _

"I'm big like you now daddy," I giggle.

"Yes, you are Lizzie. You know one of these days you won't even need the stool or daddy to help you." He hands me my pink Barbie toothbrush.

"Daddy, I'll always need you to help me."

Pressing on the toothpaste, I coax a miniscule amount out.

_I frown at the toothpaste. "It's all gone. I can't make it come out. This is dumb." _

"You have to fold back the edges, like this."

"You're so smart daddy."

Folding back the edges, a generous helping of green paste coats my brush. I move the brushes up and down over my teeth.

_"Lizzie always up and down never side to side." He fills up my cup with some water.  
_  
Pooling the water in my hand, I take it into my mouth and spit. From the cartoon, I punch out one white birth control pill.

_"Daddy, my vitamins." _

"Almost forgot." From the medicine cabinet, he pulls down a white bottle and hands me a red one.

Happily, I chew it down.

Lifting me off the stool, I link my arms around his neck. "I love you daddy."

"I love you to Lizzie Bear." He answers carrying me to my room.

Twisting the bottom of the tube, I move the lipstick over my lips.  
_  
"Now you have to pucker your lips like this," my mom makes a face. _

I try to mimic her gesture. I feel the soft lipstick slide across my lips. With my new red lips, I smile at myself in the mirror. "I look like you now mommy."

She smiles and tears off a section of the toilet paper. "Now you always need to blot."

I press my lips against a tissue. Throwing it into the basket, I open my compact up and start to apply a thin sheen of blush to my cheeks.

_"Liz don't walk away from us." _

"I told you. I'm going to Maria's." I grab hold of the door.

"What did that little shit Max Evans do to you?"

I stop dead in my tracks at the mention of his name. Slowly, I turn around to regard them.

"Jeff," my mother warns.

"She hasn't been the same since he took off for God knows where."

_"Liz," my mom begins tentatively. "We're worried about you. You're grades are dropping." _

"I'm sorry. I can't be your perfect little daughter anymore," I snit.

"We never expected you to be perfect. We just want you to be happy again. You're sleeping all the time," my dad joins in.

"I'm tired," I roll my eyes.

My mom presses her lips together. "Did you and Max you know have sex?"

"We were close, but then I had to save the world." I choke hating myself immediately for sounding vulnerable and wanting nothing more than for them to hold me. It isn't like they can fix it anyway.

"You used to be able to tell me anything. Lizzie, talk to me."

"That's just it dad. I don't want to talk to you or anyone else for that matter." I slam the door hard behind me.

The brush drops from my hand leaving a bright red trail in its wake. Running a bit of water over it, I scrub at it viciously. My eyes drift to the mirror, and I stiffen. "How did you get in here?"

"Through the door."

I don't need this right now.

His small hand tightens around the handle of an airplane-covered suitcase.

"Seth, it isn't safe for you to be running off like this all the time."

"It isn't safe for you to be having strangers in your room either," he says with distaste. "What's that man doing sleeping in your bed Liz?"

Yawning, I cover my mouth. "He's a friend."

"So you let all of your friends sleep in your bed?"

"Did I miss something? When did you become my mother?"

His eyes flash. "Mothers are stupid. You should be glad that yours went away."

"Go back to your dad or Serena or someone. Just get out now."

"I'm sorry. I guess your mom was nice," he mumbles.

"She was. She and my dad always made me feel..." safe, secured, loved, full. I tuck some hair behind my ear.

"What did they make you feel like?"

"It's not important anymore. What do you want?"

"I'm going with you," he lifts up his suitcase. "Serena packed all my stuff for me. She wasn't mad at me for mind warping her. She said that sometimes you have to be a little sneaky to help people."

"Sounds like her."

"But my dad is going to be mad at me. I had to mind warp him to get away."

"You mind warped your father. How did you do that?"

Something akin to terror appears in his eyes. "I don't know. I just did." He whispers.

"I need to call him then."

"No, you can't. He wants to send me home. I have to stay with you."

"Your dad knows a lot more about what's going on than I do," I tell him bitterly.

"I can help you find out what's going on just let me stay with you." He pulls out Larek's disk. "There's stuff on here, but there's more stuff. I'll show you how to get it all, but you can't call my dad."

He's seven years old, and he's blackmailing me.

"He's really busy, and he probably doesn't even know that I'm gone."

"I doubt that. I can't keep you safe if something happens."

"Yes, you can," he says with an adamancy that frightens me. "You call him now. You end up in the water. He gets you out, but you're blue like a Popsicle. He breathes into you and pushes on your chest and nothing happens. Then he leaves me, because of you."

I cringe at the anger. I hear in his voice.

"He leaves me. I'm all-alone. There's no sister, and there's no daddy. There's only Tess," he rambles ominously without taking a breath. "I can't be left alone with Tess."

The floor starts to rumble.

"I do bad things then."

"Alright." The movement underneath me ceases. "If I don't call him then everything is okay."

"No."

I'm going to die soon. That's a rather uplifting thought. "Do you know how I get into the water?"

"No."

"When?"

"No, everything is always moving. It's hard to keep up with it. If I wasn't broken then I'd be able to do it."

It's on the tip of my tongue to ask him to explain this very stupid and asinine broken concept, but he's way too agitated.

"Alright, we're going to go back out there. You're going to wait for me in the hall. Brian is sleeping so he won't see you."

"It would be easier to mind warp him."

"No more of this mind game stuff."

"Okay."

I open the door but stop just as I fast at the now dimly lit room.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." I tell Brian's bare back. "I couldn't sl…" the words nearly die in my throat as he slowly turns around to me. Pure terror swims in his usually carefree gaze. "What is it?"

Seth's head peaks around me. "He's had a bad dream. You should get him some water. My dad always gets me some water when I see scary things."

"Brian?" I ask again stopping in front of him.

Almost immediately, he wraps his arms around my waist and presses his head against my stomach.

"Fine, if you're not going to get him some water then I'll do it."

I run my fingers through his disheveled blonde locks. "Brian, What happened?" I can feel my panic growing every second as his silence elapses.

When he finally speaks, his once mercurial voice sounds strained and broken. "I heard you get up. I was asleep, but I heard you. You were next to me then there was nothing."

"I was in the bathroom."

He shakes his head against me. "That's not what I mean. You were with me," he covers his heart, "but then you weren't."

I kneel down beside him. "It's okay now."

"No, it's not Parker. You were in trouble. I was trying so hard to get there to stop it. I'd never been so scared in my whole life. It was all my fault."

I kiss his forehead. "It was just a nightmare see I'm fine."

He shakes his head. "It was hot so hot that…."

"You can't breathe," Seth finishes besides me his voice sounding strangely far away.

"I couldn't breathe."

"The laughing," he places his small hands over his ears.

Flicking my attention to him, Seth looks almost dazed.

"Then there was the laughing. It was shrill. All I wanted to do was to shut it off."

"You can't turn it off. It never stops," Seth adds.

"I stepped on a piece of a glass. It's when I saw it all and realized what had happened."

All three of us jump as Brian's cell phone begins to ring.

He grabs if off the nightstand. "Yeah," comes his soft reply. "Mmmhm. I agree with you."

The color seems to creep back into his face at every word he speaks to the person on the other line while Seth undergoes a similar metamorphosis.

"You shouldn't be looking at me. He's going to wonder why you're looking at nothing," he tells me, but his voice no longer holds that fragility to it of before. "You know the scions were all over this thing." Diving underneath a nook in the dresser, his father's eyes stare out from it at me. I may have no idea what that was, but I definitely know who was behind it.

"Alright thanks. I'll see you soon Lena." He folds up his phone.

"Feeling better." I hand him his shoes and shirt hoping to get him away from the mind warping seven year-old.

"Yeah, I can't even remember what had me so spooked. I guess I just needed to focus on something else. Sorry for behaving like such a whack job." Leaning down, he gives me a peck on the lips.

From the corner of my eyes, I see a dark head slide out from underneath the dresser. "Would you like to tell me what you're really doing with your friend? I have friends that are girls, and I'm not going around kissing them."

I ignore Seth. "You're sure you're alright?"

"Yes, I can think of something else that we could do that could make me feel even better." He winks.

"You're incoercible."

"I'm a guy. It's like a loop in our brain."

I smack him.

"God, woman you're vicious."

"You should just blast him. He needs to leave. We have work to do."

I glare at Seth.

"Sorry."

Brian glances down his watch. "I have some things I need to take care of. How about breakfast in a hour?"

"Only if I can have macaroni and cheese," comes a muffled answer. "What's this?"

I give Brian a forced smile. "Sure, I'll meet you at that little restaurant across from the Zocolo."

"I'll see you then."

"Brian."

"Yeah," he pauses in front of the door.

"It's nothing."

He gives me one of his hundred-watt smiles and shuts the door.

"Brian, I'm part alien. There's an alien plague out there, and my ex boyfriend has been using your body for who knows how long. His son is mind warping you." I tell the wooden door. "You may not even actually like me at all."

"You know you're very weird," Seth says joining me.

"I'm practicing. What was with that thing with the hot place and the laughing?"

He looks confused.

"The two of you were going on and on like you shared the same nightmare."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Seth."

"Liz. Why do you keep rubbing your head like that?"

"Because you're giving me a giant headache. What if Brian had seen you?"

"Humans can't see through mind warps, Liz. I would think you should know that by now."

He pulls a vial out from his pocket.

I snatch it away from him. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it underneath the dresser when I was sploring."

Turning the tube upside down, I watch the particles slide to the other side.

"What's in there?"

"My childhood."

"What do you mean?"

Glancing up at him, it feels like someone has reached into my chest and given my heart a little squeeze. He's looking at me with the same mixture of concern and empathy his father used to give me all those years ago. I tear my eyes away. "It's not important."

"Now you're lying," he answers sounding slightly miffed. "If you don't want to tell me fine, it's not like I care."

"Have you ever had things happen to you that hurt too much to talk about?"

He nods his head.

I bet you have. I'm going to make Tess pay for it as soon as I get the chance.  
"This hurts too much to talk about," I answer dropping my little morbid keepsake into my bag.

"Then why do you keep it?"

"I don't know. I need it. I guess. Let's go."

He throws the suitcase on to the bed and pulls out a red raincoat.

"What's with the coat?"

"It's going to rain. I don't like being cold."

"We're in the desert. It doesn't rain that much."

"You get that I tell the future don't you?"

"Yes."

"Just checking." He closes the suitcase back up.

I stare down at the B-52 bombers on it. "So you like airplanes?"

"I'm going to be a pilot when I grow up just like my dad."

"Your dad flies?" Max flying a plane. That's a weird thought.

"When he doesn't have to work, we fly all over Antar. You know," he turns serious. "There are a lot of things you don't know about my dad."

"That's what scares me."

"Is that all you're going to wear? You're going to get cold."

"No, I'm not. You're like a mother hen."

"I'm a father hen," he corrects.

"Technically boys can't be hens."

"Whatever, I hate this stupid language. Can we go already?"

I grab the disk and my purse. "Yes, your majesty."

He stops and spins around.

The mixture of emotions on his face breaks my heart.

"Liz don't ever call me that please."

"I'm sorry."

He shrugs. "You didn't know."

Staring at the damaged little boy in front of me, I know I've only reached the tip of the iceberg of what is really going on here. Maybe, it's his resemblance to my dearly departed lab partner. Perhaps, it's because he's a broken seven year-old, and I'm a broken twenty four year-old, or the more likely reason is that I'm over romanticizing this entire thing. Yet, I feel a kinship to him.

"Are we going to go or are you're going to stare at me all day?"

Scratch that I want to throw Mini Max out the window. "I'm coming," I answer in an overly saccharine voice.

"You scare me when you talk like that."

"You should be scared. I'm a very mean woman."

"No, you're not. You just pretend so people will stay away from you." He tells me before opening up the door and running down the stairs.

Shocked, I pause on the stairwell.

"Liz come on."

"Yeah, I'm coming," I call taking the first step.


	13. Lazarus

Chapter Tweleve: Lazarus

Water rivulets rush down the cab's window while people hurriedly cross in front of us. Wind flips a young woman's black umbrella inside out. She brings the handle down several times trying to flip it back. On her third attempt, the gust snatches it from her. Raising her head to the sky, she watches it float away while the rain seeps through her bright red coat.

I look up as a bolt of lightening crackles across the sky.

_I glance up from Harry Potter and cast a wary glance through the plastic covering at her vacant almond eyes. "It's just thunder. It's nothing to be afraid of." I tell Sierra loosening my death drip on the book's sides. _

"But it scares you."

"Yes, when my parents died, I remember this noise. It sounded like thunder, but it was inside of me. It was bouncing around in me, and it just wouldn't stop. I was so scared," my voice hitches.

"It's okay."

I stiffen as I feel her hand brush mine. I jump back. "What are you doing?" I nearly shriek at her. My mind is on overdrive. "You can't touch me. We talked about this."

"I know. You can make me sick, because my body is too tired to stop stuff." She rolls her eyes."

Antiseptic. I can clean her hand off. That should work. Bending over, I start pulling things out of a drawer.

"Brian isn't here to make you feel better, so I wanted to do it since you're sad."

"Brian is in the lab honey." I yank out a large bottle and read the label. What the hell is this? I put it down behind me.

"Liz he is, and he isn't the lab."

I stop in my mad search and turn to look at her. "What do you mean?"

She frowns. "I don't know. My head is all funny."

"It's the medicine. I'm going to make you better." I stare at my palms.

"You can't make it better Liz. " She says with a maturity way beyond her years. "The little girl keeps trying to help me, but she can't either. Dying doesn't scare me anymore."

"Liz you're scaring me."

_Fiercely, I pull the curtain around us closed. "This is going to be hard for you to understand, but I'm not like other people. I just have to figure out how to make it work then you're going to be fine." I wipe my eyes. "Then you can come home with me." _

"And be your little girl," she adds with a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips.

"You'll be my little girl."

"We'll be a family."

"LIZ," Seth yanks on my arm hard.

"What?" I snap wanting nothing more to be left alone with my memories. What was it about her? She wasn't the first child I ever took care of, but she grabbed me from the very first moment I saw her. My clinical detachment went straight out the window where she was concerned.

Clad in his red rain coat, Seth looks at me curiously. "I called your name like a thousand times. You went on vacation."

"So," I mumble.

"I was afraid you weren't going to come back."

"People don't go on vacation for forever Seth."

"I went on vacation for a year once when I was little. My dad would sit with me and talk to me, but I wouldn't leave her."

My eyes snap back to him. "You're telling me you didn't talk for a year." Max must have been beside himself.

"Look at those drops. They're like dinosaurs. The Weather Channel says it's going rain for the next three days."

"Why didn't you talk for a year Seth?"

"It's none of your business Liz," he answers angrily as he crosses his arm in a defensive posture.

"You're impossible. You know that?"

"Daddy says the same thing about you. He says you never listen to anyone."

"Daddy tried accommodating and look where that got him."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Through the rain spattered windshield, I stare at the massive structure and parking lot that is gradually coming into view. "You have to be kidding me. There has to be some mistake." I say in Spanish leaning up to talk with the cabbie while watching the small dashboard Hula dancer's green skirt move back and forth.

"This is the address your son gave me," he answers over the squeaking of the windshield wipers.

"He's not my son." I turn to Seth. "You do realize that I have things that I have to do, important things." I add. "And coming to Wal-Mart isn't one of them."

"Could you please not talk to me like I'm a child?"

"I hate to break this to you, but you're a child and a rather annoying one. I don't appreciate being taken on a wild…" I stop abruptly as one of his father's expressions surfaces in his face. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Could you turn around in the parking lot and take us back please?" Annoyed, I stare out the window. "What the hell?" With my hand, I wipe away the fog building up on the glass and can clearly make out the girl standing underneath the dark green awning covering the garden section. My stomach lurches at the white sundress I buried her in. "STOP THE CAR."

The driver puts the taxi into park. Grabbing a wad of cash, I give it to the driver and throw open the door. I splash through the puddles as I run into the lawn section. "Vi una muchacha morena? Tiene diez anos." I ask frantically one of the workers.

"No, senora."

"But I saw her, she was standing right here."

"There hasn't been a girl," the man shrugs before walking way.

"You know I think my dad would be really upset with you for leaving me in the taxi," Seth answers. "Something could have happened to me. I could have gotten run over by a car. I would have been smashed on to the payment and my blood would have.."

"Be quite." I cover my mouth totally overwhelmed by the situation. "She was here. I saw her. Did you see her?"

He shakes his head and hands me back a couple of pesos.

"What's this?"

He doesn't answer.

"I'm not telepathic. Speak."

"First you don't want me to talk and now you do. Could you please make up your mind?" He sighs. "You're a very frustrating lady."

I'm going to hit him. Taking a deep breath, I crouch down beside him. "I'm sorry for losing my temper with you. I had a very rough day yesterday, and today isn't looking any better."

"Because of my dad."

"Among other things."

"He acts very funny when he's around you."

"He hates me."

Seth hands me the bills. "You gave the driver too much money. I don't think my dad hates you."

"But he never loved me, right?"

Seth studies his tennis shoes.

I glance down at my watch. "I have to meet Brian in forty five minutes other than the fact that Wal-Mart has great sales and pays their female employees nothing, why are we here?"

"Grey lives here."

"I think I read a book like this before."

"Liz, I told you a lie." He lifts his father's amber eyes to me. "My dad loved you. I think he loves you now, but I don't really get why."

"You don't have to tell me that to make me feel better. This Grey guy where does he live?"

"But he carries…"

"Seth it isn't…"

"Will you let me finish?"

"Fine."

"He has a picture of you. He carries it with him all the time. Your hair is longer, and you're not old like you are now."

"Thanks," I answer dryly while I can feel my throat closing up.

"I didn't mean it like that. The edges are folded up. There used to be writing on the back, but the picture got wet, and it's all bleed together. You're wearing…"

"A pink shirt."

"Once, he thought he lost it, and he got really upset until Miranda found it for him. Why would he do that?"

I wet my suddenly very dry lips. "I can't begin to understand your father."

"I do. He lov…."

I grab his shoulders. "Don't finish that sentence. We're not talking about this anymore." I nudge him forward through the doors.

"Sometimes you have to talk about hard things."

"You sound like my therapist."

"Look fish," and before I can stop him he takes off for a wall of tanks. "Look at these ones they glow."

"They're neon tetra. Seth where is this Grey?"

"What's a teratherapist?"

"Someone you talk about sad things with."

"Do you feel better when you talk to this teratherapist?"

"Yes."

"Do you think you could take my dad to this? He has sad things he needs to talk about or better yet you could be his therapist."

"I'm not going to be your father's therapist."

"Why not? He'd listen to you talk about things."

"Hey, look at the Angel fish. Those are my favorite."

"My sister is going to have one in her room. She names it Einstein, but then it dies so we flush it down the toilet and get her a new one, and she never knows the difference. She's little, and daddy doesn't think she should know about death right then."

Great, I drown and Max goes off and starts a new family. At least, I'll be dead and he won't be parading all of his obnoxious kids around. I make a forced smile at the thought.

A light pops over our heads.

"Now you're doing it to." Seth grumbles. "It not nice to use your powers to break things."

"I don't want to talk about your sister anymore." My eyes drift up to the shattered light. I'm sure your dad will find some woman. Heck, he probably has one at home as we speak."

"No, he doesn't."

"She'll be nice," I carry on refusing to get sidetracked. "You'll get your sister, and you'll have a nice little family. It doesn't concern me so let's not talk about it."

"But I need your help. I have to find my sister's mommy for my dad, because daddy is not very good at picking out mommies."

"That's the understatement of the year."

"We need to go now. " He threads his small fingers through mine. At the touch of his skin, my hand stiffens. Almost immediately, he yanks his hand away from mine.

"Whatever," he fumes. "Grey is this way."

"Seth."

"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm tired of being nice to you."

Uncurling my fingers, I stare at my palm. "Don't do this," I mutter.

_"She caught the infection from me." I breathe into his chest. "There was a storm. You know how I get with thunder. _

His arms tighten around me. "You don't like the noise."

"She touched me."

"Parker, the possibilities are numerous with her T cell count being so low. It could be anything. You did everything by the book. You know that."

I lift my head up from his chest. "Kyle pulled some strings for me with the State Department. Sierra's citizenship papers came today. I can't lose her Brian. There's something inside of me. It's dark, but when I'm with her, she holds it of, but if she dies, all bets are off."

I lurch forward as someone pushes me from behind.

"Will you come on already? You're worse than my dad."

I finger my cell phone. I really need to talk to Brian or is it Max I need to talk to?

"We don't have time for you to being going on vacation every five minutes," Seth snipes behind me.

"I thought you weren't talking to me."

"I'm allowed to change my mind, aren't I?"

I yawn.

"You know you're supposed to say something back to me."

"I'm too tired to do that right now."

"Why? You just got up."

And now it's my turn to dodge his question. "Where's this Grey guy?"

"Back here, he lives in the freezers, because he likes to be cold."

I grab his shoulder. "We can't just go in there."

"Why not? They all know me."

"Are you telling me that all the people that work in here are aliens?" I ask looking around the store.

"Most of them. They came to Earth a long time ago when my daddy died the first time. See he was alive but then he died and they brought him back."

"I know all I want to know about that."

"A lot of people were sad, so they came here, but I don't know why anyone would want to do that. It smells funny here, and the food is disgusting. It's got all these things in it. People just throw everything away."

"Remind me to sign you up for Green Peace."

"What's that?"

Grabbing the knob, an immediate feeling of cold alarm rushes through me. I let go. Grabbing Seth, I pull him to me. "We need to get out of here."

"I want to see Grey," he insists pushing open the door.

"Are you nuts?" I hiss following him.

"Grey, are you in here? It's Seth. I brought Liz to see you."

I stop him from proceeding into the next room. "Look, I go first."

"Boys are supposed to go first to make sure there's nothing scary for the girls."

"Adults go before children," I answer pulling him behind me staring at my naked hand. "Where's the glove?"

"The Enrinye, she got hungry. She'll be back."

"Great." Sighing, I part the plastic curtain and walk into a room lined with freezers. I rub my arms together.

"This is where they keep all the meat." He motions to the silver walk in freezers. He pulls open the door. "He's not in there."

_"Ms. Parker. I'm pleading with you to reconsider." The coroner says standing in front of the silver drawer. _

"I have to see them."

"Alright, I'm just warning you that the damage was extensive." He pushes open the first drawer marked Jeffery Parker on it.

"Daddy, oh God," I cover my eyes against his charred remains.

"Liz look at this." Stooping, he picks up what looks to be some silver torture device. "This shouldn't be on the floor. Grey is going to be really mad. He's very neat."

Seth grimaces. " It has the cow's blood all over it." He hands it to me.

The flash that rips through my mind is of pure and unadulterated fear.

I see the metal glint in his hand. "I'm not going to ask you again. I want to know what happened that night, so you better tell me." Khivar tells a man who looks exactly like Alex crouching in the corner.

"I'm telling you I don't know. Max had everything erased to protect the woman. If she remembers, there's no telling what she'll do."

"Wrong answer Grey. The next thing I'm cutting off isn't going to be something that grows back."

He takes a step forward.

"I'm telling you I don't know."

"Then I'll settle for knowing who the charge is. Which one of us is she going to choose Max or me? She is going to want someone who has power."

He spits out a stream of bloody slaver. "Sometimes the weakest people have the greatest power, but you were always too narcissistic to get that and that is your greatest weakness."

"I had the power to make you and your brothers, didn't I? You want to talk about weak. Look at you hiding away in here in a store for plebeians denying your true purpose."

"I'm not a killer."

"Your brothers are."

"But Liz can put a stop to them."

"Not if I turn her dear boy. There's an anger inside of her just waiting to be let out. All the love she felt for Max had turn into something now, didn't it?"

"You don't understand her at all."

"You were always the odd one out Grey," he frowns. "I gave you a chance to live again. To get back what that blonde bimbo took from you, but do you give me your loyalty? No. Now I'm forced to exercise my privilege to take back what I gave to you," he answers thrusting the device into his stomach.

"You think you had problems with Max," he coughs. "When he reunites with Liz, they're going to rip you and Tess apart. Angry or not she belongs to him, and he belongs to her. Not all the manipulation in the world can change that."

The thing drops from my fingertips as the large freezer door in front of us begins to open


	14. Getting Out of Reverse

Chapter Thirteen: Getting Out of Reverse

As the silver door swings open, I yank Seth behind and watch a green force field shoot out of my outstretched hand. A little jolt of alarm races through me at the sight, but those feelings only intensify when I take in the ghost standing before me, a face no longer frozen in time, but one that has seemed to age along with the rest of us

His face has grown longer while muscles have filled out his once lanky frame erasing his slight boyish look of long ago. My eyes land on the five o'clock shadow covering his chin.

_"Look, Liz, it's a hair, and it's on my chin," Alex says staring at himself in my locker mirror. _

"Yes, it's in your chin Alex." I repeat having no idea where this conversation is going. "I hope you and your hair will be very happy together."

"You are such a smart ass. You do not understand the significance of the situation. This is entrance into the world of men. I man," he beats his chest but stops abruptly as Isabel walks by surrounded by her cohorts. "Hey, Isabel."

She doesn't even acknowledge him.

"Bitch, sometimes I can't even believe she and Max are related."

"What am I thinking?" he grumbles staring at his Sketchers. "I'm always going to be the dork, aren't I?"

"You are not a dork."

"Really."

"I mean it."

"Who else do you know that can speak Klingon and has read the Lord of the Ring twenty five times. Hell, you were beating Ricky Kessler up for me when we were in the fourth grade."

"I didn't touch Ricky Kessler."

"So he just slipped after he hit me in the head on purpose with the dodge ball."

"I have no what idea you're talking about."

"That's why he tripped you out by the buses," leaning in he traces the scar just above my eye. "You were bleeding all over the place. Max stayed with you until your mom came. I always wondered why he did that. You guys weren't really friends."

"I asked him to. He's kind has this calming presence to him." Looking into the classroom, I can see him sorting our supplies out in front of him.

"The point is that I should been able to take him."

"You're time will come."

"Right."

I draw closer to him. "Tell you a secret. One of these days Isabel and all of her very obnoxious friends are going to grow up and see what I've seen all along."

"What is that?"

"You're one of the best people I know," I answer punctuating my statement by kissing him on the cheek.

A slight blush colors his cheeks. Turning my head, I catch Max glaring at Alex. What? No, I'm imagining that.

"Liz," he whispers.

"Yeah."

"When I'm old and studly and running around with a thousand blondes, we'll still be friends, right?"

"Always," I answer.

Overwhelmed by the situation, I place my shaking hand over my mouth.

_Max can do it. He'll do it. Alex will be fine and we'll have to make up a story about what happened. It will be okay. Everything will be okay. What's taking so long?  
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Tess studying me. Unnerved, I step back so Michael blocks me from her view. _

We could say that it was comma. I read about something about that in American Journal. Yeah, that could work. There's that part in the Shipping News when the fisherman wakes up. Of course, that's a movie but maybe there's some scientific fact behind it. I'll goggle it when I get home.

The ambulance's doors open. Max emerges. He closes the door behind him.

I take in a shallow breath. Why isn't Alex with him?

Dejected, he stops in front of Tess, but looks at me. "Liz," he says my name with so much heartbreak it takes everything in me not to bury myself in his arms.

Isabel sobs something inarticulate before taking off down the street.

"Max go after her," Tess tells him.

"Liz," he asks again.

"Yeah, Max go after her." I shake my head. No, that's not what I mean. Please come back. Don't leave me. I can't do this alone, but the words don't come out. No, this is better. I can't want him anymore. I'm not supposed to want him anymore.

He moves away while I just stand still.

We're always in opposition and never in sync anymore. I sit down on the curb and stare at the wet ground alone.

Propping himself in a way that obscures the rest of the freezer, Grey seems just as intent at studying me as I am of him. I can literally feel his gaze travel down the planes of my face.

Yet, there's something not right. A slight discomfort starts again in my palms. Looking down on my left hand, the glove is back, but instead of being silver the color has changed to that of midnight blue.

A rustle of movement comes from my side, and I feel Seth's finger slip from mine. Balling his fist up, he bangs on the force field. "You're not being nice."

Alex's eyes move nervously around the room as a large blue vein bulges out in his forehead.

I bite my lip as I see her small figure clad in her sundress step out from the corner with clear alarm painted across her face. Grabbing hold of Seth's coat, I begin to back up stopping his attempts to wiggle furiously out of my grasp. "His father and Michael are parking the car."

"Maybe, you should go and help him with that," Grey suggests.

"Dad's not…" I cover his mouth, but he pulls my hand away. "Stop telling lies Liz. We came by ourselves." Almost instantly, the freezer door is shoved open to reveal a large translucent creature holding Grey. With snow white tentacle cascading down his head, he looks like a Gorgon come to life. Six nearly identical figures rise up from the floor around us with a strange sulfur smell accompanying them.

"Daddy told me never to tell lies to my friends."

I swallow down the bad taste of guilt.

"They hurt people," Seth tells me while his hold on my hand seems to be cutting off all my circulation.

Through the shield, I watch a small whole open in the largest one, and a small red feeler emerge. Snaking out of what I think is its mouth, the red tentacle moves back and forth before my eyes like some charmed cobra. I can feel Seth tugging at my waist and hear both him and Grey telling me to look away, but it does no good. Instead, my attention stays riveted to the back and forth motion. As it swings to the new position marking its future and back to it's old position marking its past.

New becomes old.  
Future becomes past.

Everything happens in a line. What happens when you cut yours up and start a new line?

_I rub my arms against the cold before ducking underneath the yellow police tape. Standing on the inside, I feel closer to what's left. Stop kidding yourself, there's nothing left. It's all gone. They're gone and by some wicked chance you're still here. _

Getting angry at the open space that used hold so much for me, I kick a pile of ash while something shinny catches my attention. Bending down, I pick it up and close my eyes. "Out of all the things to survive," I whisper. "It's ironic considering we had a shelf life of three months. I bet you're stinking happy," my eyes drift upwards to the stars, "with your wife and your son." Angrily, I fling it away from me, but the moment I let it go. I feel its loss. I have nothing of before nothing except it. Racing to where I think it has landed, I fall on my knees and start digging through the dirt, but the bandages on my hands get in the way. Furiously, I try and tug them off. They don't budge. With my teeth, I create a seam. I've got the ones off my left hand when a light falls on me. Squinting my eyes, I can barely make out three blobs.

"There she is."

"Maria it's condemned. That's what the tape is for."

"Screw the tape," she answers while another figure totally disregards the conversation completely climbing over it.

I blink once, and I feel his arms around me. Turning to him, I bury myself in his embrace and let his strength wrap around me.

"You really had me frightened Liz. You said you were going back to Maria's to rest." He coughs and clears his throat.

I break away from him. "Are you okay Brian?"

"Just been feeling a little funny lately."

"Because you've been too busy taking care of me." I frown.

"Well, I couldn't ask for a more prettier patient Parker."

"But your dissertation?"

"My dissertation can wait. Now what's up?"

"I have to find it."

"Find what?" Maria asks hugging me from behind.

"The necklace."

"What necklace?" Kyle says joining.

"You finally decided to be rebellious and cross the line."

"Give me a break woman, as a rule enforcer it behooves me to I don't know follow the rules."

"You know ever since you got on this I must be in the FBI kick you've become a real drag."

"What do you think Parker?" Brian whispers into my ear. "I think they must be secretly doing it."

I smile a small smile.

He smoothes the hair away from my face. "Now about this necklace."

My ex boyfriend gave it to me. I haven't looked at it in five years but since it's the only thing that wasn't blown apart. I kind of like to have it. I finally settle on the basis. "It's silver, and it has an eye on it."

"Oh, you so you do not need that. It's from," Maria waves her hand in the air.

"The asshole," Kyle finishes. "Where do you think it is?"

"Here somewhere." He and Brian join me on the ground.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Maria says seconds later as she starts digging through the ash. "What the hell is this? It looks like," she pauses, "macaroni and cheese. Gross," she flings it behind her.

"There's been some squatters," Kyle answers.

I stare at the four of us huddled over the dirt. I feel the tears start to form again. "Thanks," I tell each one of them. "Thank you for being my friends. I couldn't have gotten through this without you all," I wipe my eyes while the pedant catches my attention but this time I don't pick it up alone. Both my hand and Brian's wrap around the smooth medal.

"Beat you to it Parker," he coughs. Grabbing the flashlight, he holds it up to the light. I see him frown. "Here Liz," he drops it into my hand like he can't get rid of it fast enough.

I shiver at the sudden distance between us. "It doesn't mean anything. It's the only thing that survived. It's not like I'm keeping it, because I still have feelings for him or anything."

"You know it's not really my business," he says getting up. "I'll meet up with you guys later."

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask after he's left.

"No, honey he's a man," Maria says ushering me back on to the sidewalk. "Kyle please translate what the hell that was."

"Hell if I know."

"He calls me up literally freaking out, because you're not at my house. He made it sound like that you were in mortal peril."

"It's just when I woke up in the hospital. He seemed different just the way that he held me. It's like he hadn't seen me in a very long time or our whole relationship had changed."

"Not to over state the obvious, but you did almost die again."

Maria smacks Kyle on the arm, "That's really crass you know that."

"It's okay. I'm sort of like Cat Woman when it comes to the whole dying thing."  
I slip the necklace into my purse. Crouching down, I scoop up a bit of ash into my hand.

"Liz?"

"It's just a thing I need to do."

"Alright," she pats my shoulder.

"WAKE UP," Sierra's voice screams in my head. A high pitched wail begins like a tea pot screaming to be taken off a stove's burning eye. Pulsing erratically, I cover my ears. Rising higher and higher, I feel it splitting me right down the center when my eyes spring open to the shadows playing across the walls and to the comfort of quiet.

Where am I again? I think I'm sitting on the floor. Great my ass has fallen asleep.

A water bottle is thrust into my hand. "Now I want you to drink this all, I don't want hear any complaining from you Liz," a small voice orders.

"Seth," I say groggily. "Grey?"

"He's went to go and see something."

"What?"

"I'm not answering anymore questions until you drink."

"You know you're very pushy."

"You're not very smart. You never supposed to let Scions feed on you Liz."

"What?"

He presses on my forehead.

"Stop that. It hurts," I wince.

"I can't heal it, daddy could if he wasn't sick."

"What do you mean your dad is sick?"

"Drink."

I take a sip.

"Khivar made him sick. He made Grey do it, but Grey didn't want to do it. He had to."

I try and get up but the floor begins to move. "Help me up."

"Nope, you need to rest."

"We have to get out of here. Grey's a." I pause as at his figure standing in the doorway. I smack the back of my head against the wall. "Oh hell just kill me now. I'm tired of all this crap." Another unsettling thought comes to me. "Where did the things."

"The scions," Seth adds.

"Yeah, where did they go?"

"Don't you remember?"

"Should I remember? It's this thing isn't it," I say lifting up the pedant. "Great, it's glowing again."

"It believes you to be in a danger," Grey answers from the doorway.

"Being in danger is sort of old hat for me."

He takes a step forward and a shield rises up around Seth and me.

"I'm not going to hurt you Liz."

"Not this again," Seth hits his head in frustration.

"I need you to trust me. We need to get out of here. Khivar is going to sense what happened. He going to be here eventually."

"He'll take the little girl away from you," Seth adds.

"Little girl?"

"She helps you. Please Liz, we need to go."

I nod my head. "I don't know how to make it go away."

"Can I do it?"

"Yeah."

Gently, he grabs my hand. Closing his eyes, the shield dissipates while I watch Grey look on at us curiously.

"We can go out the back."

He pulls out a large black duffle back from under a desk and slings it over his shoulder. Throughout the whole exchange, I can't stop staring at him. I know he's not Alex, but I have to try and make amends. It's the only way that I can ever move on.

He nudges me to the door, but I don't move. "I need to know or to say something before we go anywhere. I'm sorry for taking your life. It was.."

He puts his finger to my lips to silence me.

"You didn't do anything."

_"I gave you back what that bimbo took from you." _

"All this time, I thought it was me," barely keeping my emotion in check. "That it was my fault that you died that when I changed everything. I gave him life and cost you yours. But, it wasn't me, was it? I need to know."

"It wasn't you. If he had known, how much this weighs on you he would have told you years ago."

Seth yanks on my arm.

"Why?"

"It was an accident, or she claims it to be."

"Do you believe her?"

"Liz."

Irritated, I look down on his suddenly very pale face. "What is it?"

"I'm seeing things," he says dazed before falling in my arms.

"What the hell?" While I seem to take on killer aliens, his limp body appears to be a completely different scenario. Looking at him, another small body appears before my eyes, but where his is warm. Hers is cold and hard. A memory begs for an audience, but I refuse it. I'm not losing another child.

Taking off my over shirt, I wad it into a ball and place it underneath his head. "Tell me, this is normal."

He doesn't answer me.

"Alex," I demand. "Talk to me. Oh God, I should have called his dad. He told me not to but, I shouldn't have listened. I'll call him."

He grabs my purse away from me.

"If he told you not to call Max, then you need to do what Seth says. He's not some fluke or amateur Liz."

"Is that's why he's passed out on the floor?"

"He's having a vision luckily this isn't a bad one. He shouldn't have any seizures, but we can't move him until he wakes up."

"Seizures?"

"He has epilepsy. It's sort of a by product of the visions and having the ability to communicate with Nessa."

"Then she needs to stop chatting with a seven year old and start talking to me," I roar.

A slight smile curves on his lips.

"What?"

"You're very protective of him."

"No, I'm not."

Seth face contorts into a grimace, and his head lurches up.

Feeling completely helpless, I lean down over him. "You're going to be alright. I won't let anything bad happen. Just go see what you have to but come right back." A strange idea grips me and brushing away his hair. I kiss his sweaty forehead and watch a trail of green sparks flow down his face.

Beside me, Grey inhales his breath.

My eyes shoot up. "I just did something bad, didn't I?" my voice hitches.

"No, you're aligning with him."

"What?"

"Antarian mothers do it when they're children are in distress."

My hands jump back from his body. "I'm not his mother," hatred creeps into my voice. All I can see is Max holding Tess alternating with their child laying on the floor at my feet. Backing away from Seth, I have to get out of here.

I'll go back to Brian. I don't even have to understand the alien connection. I can solve this without Max. Hell, he didn't even finish high school let alone college. He wasn't even smart enough to use protection, because he wanted Tess so badly.

You're my destiny Liz. I want to be with you. Crap Crap Crap.

A small gasp from Seth sends me diving onto the floor next to him. With out any coherent thought, I pull his head onto my lap. "Shh, you're okay." I tell him smoothing away his sweaty hair as more green sparks float down his face. His once tense body grows slack in my arms. "I don't understand what I'm doing."

"You're telling him that you're out there for him."

"He has his father."

"That's different. Maternal bonds are very important in male Antarians' development."

"Well, you stop saying that. I'm not his mother."

"I'm living proof that genetics means nothing in the scheme of things. He trusts you, which is nearly miraculous considering."

"You can't trust someone you've just met."

"Are you sure about that?"

"He doesn't even like me."

"You should see what he does to the people he doesn't like," he answers ominously. "You see the light that spirals down your skin when you touch him."

"Yes."

"That shows he's open to you. That shows a connection."

"When I touch his father it's red."

"That's the convergence."

"Which is what exactly?"

"I don't think you'll like the implications of that."

Opening his bag, he pulls out several small black inhalers. Putting one to his mouth, he takes a puff. "Why did you come here really?"

I bite my lip.

"I know it's your job to kill my kind."

"Then you are a virus?"

"Yes," he says softly.

"A carrier?"

"No, I'm a living organism designed with one purpose to enter and destroy. I do not sleep, or eat. Normal human drives mean nothing to me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"There are four others like myself. You need to be able to see them as the enemy and not as your friend."

"If you are my enemy, why did you try to warn us?"

"In the two years that Max was held hostage, I tortured him. I was a master at turning his own body against him."

"Yet, he allows his son to know you."

"Stop trying to see the good in me."

"Then you stop acknowledging only the bad. You want to talk about bad. Who do you think sent him to the hell hole? If I'd been honest with him, he would have never ended up there."

"If you had been honest with him, he would had never had a son he adores."

I clinch my fists.

"That bothers you, doesn't it?"

I tuck my hair behind my ear. "He's going to have a daughter to. I'm sure he'll adore her just as much."

"And you?"

"And me what?"

"Children?"

"No… I um… don't want them."

"Why?" he says abruptly in a way that is certainly not Alex. "You seem to be good with them."

I meet him straight in the eye. " I can't bury another person that I love. I won't survive it."

"So you're going to cut through the red tape by not loving anyone? Mind if I tell you that the plan sucks royally."

"This is coming from the person…"

"I'm not a person."

"A virus that is overwhelmed by thoughts of self loathing."

"I guess it has everything to do with perspective."

"We'll your perspective is faulty."

"So is yours." Reaching for my hand, the connection that stirs between seems almost instant.

Darkness is his first memory. Stretching out in a thick silent void, he is unmade and unformed. Suddenly, there is a flash of light, a burst of pain, and a myriad of memories from another that converge all together. Pulled from some unnatural womb, he opens his eyes to him, his creator and father, the man who holds his purpose in his hands.

"Hello, Alex. I've been waiting a long time for you." Khivar says triumphantly.

Khivar's words are gibberish to his newborn mind, but he feels alarm all the same. Lifting his hand upwards to study it, one thought rises above all others. He shouldn't be here. This is wrong.

The picture shifts and where there was once darkness and fear. Light and dull ache fall into place. Standing before her, he covers his heart. For the nearly hundredth time, he wonders why she impacts him so. Did she have the same power over his predecessor? It is he she wants not him. Tearing his gaze away from her golden hair and her bottomless eyes, he struggles to keep his voice firm against her onslaught. "Isabel, I'm not Alex Whitman."

"You are," she says in her soft, vulnerable tone she only seems to use with him.

He pulls away from her. "Alex died. You know that."

"You have his strength. It's what used to scare me so much about you. You knew what I was and you loved me for it. I spent my entire life hiding and pretending. You saw through it all. It scared me to death. You love me. Not some fantasy but me. It's why I tried everything in the world to push you away. It's why I flaunted Grant in your face."

He frowns. Grant? A wisp of a memory floats by but he's unable to catch it.

"I wanted you see that I didn't deserve you, and I wanted you to leave. If I hadn't been so busy plotting and driving you away, I would have seen what Tess was doing."

He clinches his fists.

"I need you to forgive me for not being there Alex."

Turning to her, try as he might he can't ignore the anguish that rips through him at the sight of her tear stained face. With the light shinning down on her golden hair and slight tint of her cheeks, he knows he has never seen anyone more beautiful. In this instant, he makes the choice to pretend briefly and play the role he has denied her up to now. Using the trickery of words, the he that is Alex Whitman converts into an I, because somehow he knows that the real Alex Whitman would do the same thing. "I forgive you."

"Thank you," she breathes licking her lips. He knows what she wants, but he will not cross that line. He pats her hand and stands up. "I have to go." Walking away, he looks slightly over her his shoulder at the angel that does not belong to him and will never belong to him but whose purpose seems to torment him all the same.

"Interesting," Khivar says coming around the corner and falling into step with him. "Here I thought you would have put up more of a fight. She after all did ignore you and use you."

"She did it to Alex not me," he corrects. "I have a feeling your purpose for bring me back wasn't so I could reduce Isabel Evans to a guilty quivering mass."

"Your purpose will become clear to you soon enough dear boy."

"You should have left me where I was."

He smirks. "What would the fun of that have been?"

"I'm not supposed to be here."

"You think too much."

He frowns as a strange look comes over Khivar's face. If he didn't know Khivar any better, he would think that it was an expression of concern. Following his line of sight, he sees the small red cloaked figure moving down below as a dark shadow trails along at her feet. Spreading across the once sunny courtyard, a sudden chill cuts through the balmy air. The bright yellow heads of flowers wither and turn a deadly black as she passes.

"You would think she would cut the dramatics after all of this time. I did her a favor."

"I don't think she sees it that way."

"Joining herself with inbreed, no matter how alluring his mother was unacceptable of someone with her breeding."

"She was in love."

"In lust, that's all it was. Keep an eye on her for me."

"Don't I always."

"If you would do a little more than just looking, we wouldn't be having this discussion."

"It isn't like that. We're friends."

"So tell me is she the young king's friend as well?"

He fights back his irritation.

"Always going to his aid."

Could he be anymore arrogant? Paging Emperor Palpatine and Saurman anyone, watching him fall was going to be the pleasure of a life time.

"Nicholas thinks they're plotting something, but my dear daughter has to many bats in her belfry for that. He is too weak to go anywhere let alone with an infant."

These one way discussions are always so entertaining just keep nodding and smiling. Why does he even ask for my opinion?

"It's your turn with him."

His eyes gaze down at the stone tiles as the bulging begins in his palm. Yes, it was his turn.

Grey lets go of my hand and gets up. "Stay here."

"Grey."

"I'll be fine just stay here."

"God, when did I become the bimbo from a James Bond movie?" As the flashes recede, sadness takes it place. I've gotten flashes from Seth, Grey and even Khivar, but from the person I want desperately to see again. There's been nothing. Maybe, I never saw him correctly in the first place, and he never saw me. I sigh.

"Don't be sad."

I jump as Seth's warm fingers trace my cheek.

"You're okay." I say relieved, but my relief is short lived as I look at his face. The expression is softer than Seth's customary harden ones. Who ever this is? It isn't Seth.

"You look so much prettier in person than you do in your pictures. You have to help him. It's gotten all messed up. She said she would make it so I was never born, and she has."

"I don't understand."

"He's doing things. I'm not there anymore to make him stop anymore. If I was there, he would listen to me. He always said that we were the only two that could make him see reason."

The hell?

"Please talk to my dad, you don't understand what will happen if you don't. He can do so much good or hurt a lot of people. She's coming. She won't ever leave me alone. It's why I came to visit you all those times. I just wanted to get out of the dark. The cell is so small," she says desperately. "I know Seth is coming to get me, but I'm not going to be here when he comes. I'm disappearing," she says with an underlining fear in her voice. "Please talk to my dad."

"Wait. Who's doing this to you? Whose your father?"

Seth's eyes flutter close.

"I can't fix this if you're going to speak to me in pronouns. I need some proper names here." I pat his forehead and more green sparks erupt. "Come on, talk to me."

"Get away from my son."

My head flicks up at the sound of his low and threatening voice to a rather pissed off Max, no pissed isn't the right word, let's try enraged. He looks at me and then Seth and back to me again. "What happened to your head?" he asks but it sounds more like a demand.

"I thought I try Chinese suction therapy since it was such a big hit with Gwyneth after she had Apple."

"That supposed to be funny?"

"I thought it was naming your daughter after a fruit. Tell me, you have any names picked out for your future offspring?"

A groan from Seth tears me away from the current staring contest that I'm having with his father. "Shh, it's okay." Running my fingers over his temples, a line of green spreads across his face silencing him.

"I'm not going to tell you again," Max says but this time he's behind me somehow. He's close. Close enough for me to smell him.

"Let go, Liz."

Why does he have to smell so good?

"Now."

"Fine, I can't help it if he wants me to play mommy for him, because you did such a wonderful job picking her out."

"No, that would be you who picked her out. The last thing he needs is another woman running off on him and since running off seems to be your specialty."

It happens so fast. I can barely account for it. One second, I'm sitting on the floor and the next I'm on my feet. My hand railing back to slap him. While I may be fast, Max is faster.

He stops my wrist right before it connects. His eyes ablaze, they smolder right through me. "What do you see when you look at him?" he demands.

"I see a little boy that desperately needs something, and sometimes I think that's me and it scares the shit out of me. And other times, I see you the way you were before or maybe it's the way I wanted you to be," unable to keep the torture out of my voice. "It breaks my heart. Is that what you want to hear or do you want to hear that I'm sorry for sending you to God knows whatever I sent you to, but I didn't have a choice."

He lets go of my wrist and practically pushes as if he can't get me away from him fast enough.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this, because you're not human enough to understand any of it anymore."

"You could have come to me," he says with an underling fury in his voice. "We would have worked it out, but instead you took me completely out of the loop."

"You were in the loop," I laugh bitterly pressing my hand to my aching head as my vision starts to blur. Great, I'm going to faint in front of him. This is just freaking fantastic.

"He wasn't me."

Unable to look at him anymore, without seeing his phantom doppelganger, I turn my face away. "What was I supposed to do? There was you. You kept telling me how much you loved me and you just wouldn't listen and then there was him, you." I correct. "He was so broken and weary. I didn't want that for you."

"That wasn't your decision to make."

"Maybe not, but tell me would you have ever recovered from losing Michael and Isabel? Could you really go on without them?"

He doesn't answer me.

"You knew them in two lifetimes while we had only been together for a couple of months. It wasn't meant to be, and you know it. We had to grow up sometime one of has to be realistic about the situation."

"Now you're just coping out."

I shake my head. "You said it yourself after Michael got sick."

"Interesting how you recall things. I was asking for a break not a break up."

"We're too different. You remember saying that to me to?"

"I remember telling you that I loved you and then watching as you ran down a hill."

"You never loved me."

"Now, you're going to tell me how I felt."

"Did you think about how much you loved me when you and Tess made love? Where was your love for me then?"

"You're always going to put her in the middle, aren't you? Is that why you ran from me that day at the pod chamber?"

I turn my back on him. "Why are we even talking about this like it matters? I've moved on with my life. I've been with men."

"I've been with women."

Something bites into my heart at his confession. I picture myself clawing their eyes out. Stop it, I do want him to be happy. Why is this so hard? "Right. We've both moved on."

"Have we?" He whispers. Fingers skim across my hips and lightly turn me to him. Leaning in to me, his lips are so close to mine. I wonder if he still tastes the same after all of these years.

"Why did you leave?"

"I would have been in the way." There is so much more, but it's all I can get out right now. Please don't push me Max. He demands no further information. I'm grateful for it. "Did you love her?"

His Adam's Apple bobs jerkily. "No, I did care about her though."

I cringe. A fuck, a mindless screw would have been so much easier, but when did we ever go for easy. My gaze falls on their son who appears to be resting peacefully on the floor. I take a step back from the intimacy that threatens to ensnare me.

Max lets out a sigh.

I blink.

"Liz, what is it?"

"I don't feel very well." The room swims. I'm about to take a spill onto the cold floor, but instead I spill into something warm and strong. Catching me, it lowers me downward. I struggle to open my eyes, but the light is unbearable. I wince before a large bronze hand blocks it out.

He whispers something, but I'm unable to make it out. Closing my eyes, I stop fighting against what I wanted to do all those years before and settle down into the comfort of his embrace. God help me, I can't get hurt again I think before the darkness finally takes me


	15. Memory's Trap

Chapter Fourteen: Mnemosyne's Trap

Disjointed snippets of dialogue float through me. Cut and out of place, their source is unknown to me. Yet, they play over and over trying to make a whole out of only a fraction.

_"Parker come on. I don't see why you can't come to Boston for just a week. I'm bored." _

"Welcome to the Crashdown Cafe."

"He's hungry."

"You could stay with me Parker if your dad with get off his I'm trying to seduce you crack."

"I'll be right back with two cherry cokes."

"You could just admit that you're after my body."

"Liz look at me. Open your eyes and look at me. It's not ending like this. I won' t let it end like this."

"After your body, you're practically jailbait. If I ever brought your home, my mother would have me arrested. I'm just trying to help expand that very lovely mind of yours. What's really wrong Parker? Something is going on. You and Kyle are doing that cagey thing you do every time September rolls around."

"I was scared daddy. I was scared daddy. I was scared daddy."

"Nothing is going on. . I have to go. I've got two customers."

"What the hell are people coming in to eat at ten, right? Are you there alone?"

"Brian, it just a mother and her child. I'll be fine. Welcome to the Crashdown Café. Our specials today are Predator Tentacle Macaroni."

Instinctively, I cover my ears against the noise that I know is coming. Low and rumbling, it rips through me looking. It's always looking for what I don't know. If it would just tell me, I would give it anything it wants. Anything to make the rising laughter stop.

_"You've always had everything. Let's see how you enjoy having nothing. Maybe we won't be so different after all." _

" NO! STOP! PLEASE!"

_Glass snaps. He's here. Oh, God he's here. Help me, I want to scream, but my mouth won't move. He won't help. He never loved me. _

"I tried daddy, but she was just too big.'

"Shh, Liz's it's okay. You're okay now."

At the honey-toned sound, the tangled cacophony that threatens to drive me mad dissolves away right along with my rage. "Mmm," I mumble snuggling up to the source that is so very warm, but the closer I bring myself to it the farther it moves away from me. Shifting on to my side, I greedily find myself pressing harder against it cajoling and begging for it to share just a morsel of heat with me.

Yet, there is no response.

For some reason, this indifference does nothing to sway me. Rubbing my cheek up against cotton, I feel muscles tighten underneath my assault, but still no warmth wraps around my icy being. Fingers uncurl at my side and snake their way upwards to rest on a powerful slope. With my hand, I pull ignoring the alarm spreading in the back of my mind, because I need what I need. There is no question in my heart I need this, but it doesn't move. It is being stubborn. It doesn't know that I can be even more stubborn.

_"We're just too different." _

"I don't care."

So, I pull again.

_"Why is it okay for Michael and Maria, but it isn't okay for us?"_

This time I feel air brush the wisps around my face while against my lids the light turns dark. Hands cradle the side of my face dancing delicately over my jaw. My neck arches up into the embrace wanting nothing more to get closer to my goal.

"I suggest you open your eyes before you do something you'll regret." His lips tell me. They're so close. I swear they touch my own as he speaks.

Oh God, what was I doing? Correction what I was trying to do with Max? I was sleeping, and I didn't know. I throw in a little sigh for good measure, and he says nothing. He's so buying this. Heck, I've made an art form out of pretending. Everyone falls for it.

"I know you're awake," he murmurs.

He sees through me.

The faint impression of fingers start to travel up the back of my arm. Skating up over goose bumps and tensed muscles, they stop to play with the straps of my tank top.

"Ssttt…sttt..op." .

Two heated digits slip underneath the strap.

"Stop that." I finally get the words out.

"Why?" he puffs against the back of my neck.

"I don't want you to." Yet, I find myself leaning over and stretching my neck to the side to give him better access.

_"MARIA," Taking the hook, I pull another piece of her hair through the plastic hole._  
_  
"Ouch, are you trying to rip my hair out?" _

"I don't see why you can't just pay to get your hair highlighted."

"One word. Free. At the saloon, it's a hundred bucks nuff said"

"So I'm just like slave labor to you?"

"Yep."

"At least you're honest."

_"So do me a favor and throw some honesty my way babe. You can't tell me you haven't thought what it would be like to be with Max." _

"Yes, I've thought about it," I whisper.

"Out of the two of them, he would be the better person. I see Michael as being a wham bam thank you kind of man, which I wouldn't mind. I'm not much into the preliminaries, but Max. He seems very hands on. He works you up by the time it comes to it your practically begging him for it."

"Stop it right now," I hiss.

His movements halt. "So let me get this straight, it's okay for you to maul me, but I can't touch you."

"I wasn't mauling you. I was cold and scared."

"Why?" his voice turns suddenly from the playful to the serious.

"I had a weird dream."

"Do you remember it?"

"I was suffering from amnesia. Tess was my best friend, and Serena was a ten-foot snake living inside of me. Unfortunately, you still were king. Can't seem to really get away from that little tidbit."

"You know just once I would like to have a honest conversation with you. I ask you a question, and you actually answer it."

"What would the fun be in that?"

He lets out a sigh. "We used to be able to tell each other everything."

"I don't remember them. I never remember them. I just wake up scared. I had a terrible one last night." I start confessing before I can stop myself.

"I could help you work it out if you wanted," he ventures. "There could be reasons behind them."

"I don't need your help. They're just dreams. Everyone has nightmares." I have to get out of here. Gingerly, I try to open one eye, but the stinging sensation puts a halt to the idea.

"The light still bothering you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I open them again just enough to see underneath my lashes. The light filtering in is a brilliant and painful crimson.

His lips brush against the lobe of my ear. "I can't help you Liz if you don't tell me what's wrong so please just stop fighting me and talk to me."

"Talk?" I squeak imagining his lips on entirely different body parts doing way more than just talking.

"Yes, talk. That's what friends do."

"So we're friend again?" I feel him swallow behind me. "I love it how you get to decide when to be friends and when not to be. When were you going to tell me about Alex? Must have been really been hard when you realized I was right, and you were being lead around by your lower anatomy."

He moves out from behind me and takes his warmth with him.

I hug my knees against the loss while I hear him breathing harshly in front of me.

"I need to feel needed. I thought Tess needed…"

"I don't want to hear what Tess needed from you." I snap my eyes open, and it takes all my might not to cry out from the intense throbbing the light causes, but my pride keeps them open. If I'm going to face him, I'm going to do with my eyes open both figuratively and literally. I'm not getting fooled again.

The light dims from above, and the pressure that threatens to pop my eyes out of their sockets diminishes somewhat.

"Better?"

Now of course, this should be the part where I say thanks. However, the slightly smug looks he's sending my way puts the kibosh on any good will.

"You're impossible, you know that?" The humor behind his words makes me feel even more irate

Looking for a distraction, I start pulling at a hole just above my knee.

One blue thread.  
Two blue threads.

I'm really quite efficient at this. I'm on my way to making my own very nice pair of stressed jeans when a bronze hand stills my own.

"Will you just listen to me Liz?"

Drop dead.

"Please."

My head snaps up on its own volition . "I don't want to talk about her. It's in the past. She was there when you needed her." I glance over at her sleeping son. "I wasn't. That's all there is to it."

He nods and clears his throat and then does it again. "Every month, I address the Kronae, and its nearly three hundred Thebians. During the Eritrea Conflict, they called me in as a negotiator. I brokered a peace plan, and they've been fighting longer than anyone can remember. When I retook the capital, I led over ten thousand. Nothing and no one fazes me." He looks up at the ceiling before settling down on me. "No one but you. There are things that I need to tell you, so you could stop looking at me like you despise me for five seconds."

What? Despise him?

"I wasn't ever supposed to see you again."

"Really?" I ask dryly.

"In the conventional way," he adds quickly. " I thought the least that I could do is to stay out of your way. Then I open the door, there you are standing next to my son. You couldn't even bring yourself to look at me."

I was too scared, too embarrassed, too hurt, too everything.

" I know that I messed up. I know that I hurt you and that you still carry the scars from it."

My attention lands on the large silver line etched deep into his cheek. Raised and slightly faded, it is by no means new, but I have no doubt that its birth was an extremely painful one. A need for vengeances bursts in my chest. Potent and raw, it wants only to hurt the responsible party. I duck my head. I was the responsible party. I did this to him.

Gently, he lifts my chin upwards. "Stop it," Max chides. "It wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't yours either. We were just children, stupid, careless children." I answer meeting his gaze, but I can tell my words have no impact.

"You still to need to know why. I owe that to you so you can move on and find someone that makes you happy and gives you everything your heart desires," his voice chokes, " someone that completes you."

Ah, Max is ever the romantic even after all this time. "Love isn't like that. It's not like there's one person out there that makes everything worth it. There's just people that you fit better with than others. If you go looking for a soul mate, you're not going to find it. They don't exist."

"Do you really think that? Do you?" He repeats.

I shrug my shoulders.

"I did this to you, didn't I?" He doesn't wait for me to answer. Tucking his hair back behind his ears, he looks nervous, uncontrolled, and all too human for the very first time "Since as long as I remember, I've taken care of people. It was just something that was in me. Something I knew I needed to do just like with anything else. It was up to me to look out for Michael and Isabel. It was in my head even though I didn't know at the time where it was coming from."

"Do you know now?" I ask dreading the answer.

"It was Zan's fault they were killed. He didn't protect them like he should have."

"Or he had a guilt complex a mile long, one you somehow inherited."

"I doubt that," he mumbles. "I doubt that a lot. You see. In order to have a revolution, you sort have to piss off the majority of the population, don't you? Content people don't usually murder their leaders."

"Whatever he did, you're not him."

"I'm more him than I would like to be. There's a ruthlessness in me. Don't shake your head. You got to see it up close and personal before I left. You see I never felt like I belonged on Earth, and I never felt human until you," he rushes through as if my connection to him is almost repellent. " That was the difference between Zan and myself. He never knew what it was like to have someone love him." His gaze meets mine, "even if it was for a short time."

I press my lips together. There's nothing short about it Max.

"After Pierce, you left, but Tess was always there."

"I'm glad she was." I whisper feeling the bile rise in my throat. "She could understand you in ways that I couldn't then. She knew what it felt like to have to hide and to be different."

"Liz, I'm not telling you this to blame you. It's just how I felt then."

"Mmmhm," is all I can get out as my heart feels like its breaking all over again.

"I'm not getting this out right. This is a mistake."

"No," I reach out to grab his wrist. "Tell me, I want to hear this."

His eyes sweep down me in concern as if looking for some sign. Not finding it, they settle back on my face. " While my life became less human, Michael and Isabel's became more. I hated them for it. They were the ones that were always trying to limit me. I was going to go after you that day at the pod chamber, but Michael stopped me."

What?

"I should have never let you leave the way you did. Why could he be with Maria, and I couldn't be with you?" He asks more to himself than to me.

A warmth spreads over me. He wanted me.

I never loved her.

No, I was the distraction until Tess came. That was all I was.

"Isabel was going to go to college. College was never going to be in my future when I was too busy going off to alien summits. But most all I hated them for not needing me anymore. How dare they for actually going after things that made them happy?" he rolls his eyes. "I was an idiot and to top it all off I was being played by one of the best. She knew how to feed my insecurities and my ego. She.."

"Does being king make you happy?" I interrupt needing to change the subject,. When it comes down to it, I don't want to know why he slept with her. Screw it, a little stupid and masochistic part of me does.

"Yes, it's what I'm supposed to be. I'm a good at it. Khivar ran Antar into the ground. Bit by bit, I'm making the parts I control better."

My stomach drops. "I knew you would be a good king," my voice struggles to remain neutral.

"But being a father makes me even happier. There's so much destruction out there and so much evil. I know you've seen your fair share of it. It's hard no to let it change you, but at the end of I day, I have this little person who is excited about discovering pickles for the first time, or he finally learned how to tie his shoes without any help. Seth, he amazes me. I've learned so much from him. He has your knack of just seeing the world so differently than others do. I don't know what I would have done without him."

"Then everything turned out the way it was supposed to be." I say in a tight voice. Pushing myself off the floor, I lean against the wall for support.

"I didn't mean it like that Liz. I didn't," he whispers as he tries to reach out to steady me, but I shoo his arms away because having him touch me right now is the last thing I want.

" It's a scientific fact that members of the same species seek each other for reproduction and for other needs. It's basic Darwinism. Biologically you don't want what your not supposed to have. You were compatible with her. You have a son and a family. I'm happy that you have that. I know what it's like now to be different and alone. I wouldn't wish that on anyone," I whisper harshly seconds away from breaking down completely.

He opens his mouth to speak but closes it as a slight whimper from Seth becomes his new focus. Almost wearily, he leaves me and lowers himself down to him placing his hand on their son's forehead.

I look away, but not before, I catch him looking at me with so much emotion. It's literally pouring out of him as if he's almost willing me to fill in the blanks or to understand a prospective that I'm at a loss to grasp or am just unwilling to see. However, like with anything else, the expression fades as he shrugs off his humanity in favor of his patented control.

Nine years ago, I would have fought the change tooth and nail, but Elizabeth Parker is nowhere as tenacious as her younger counterpart was. Fighting against the norm never got Liz Parker anywhere so I curl up into myself while he seems to be doing the same. What a wonderfully dysfunctional pair, we are. The past is dead and so is Max and Liz. Another groan from Seth breaks me from my reverie as a primordial need passes over me. After years of evolving, its message is instant, undeniable, and extremely frightening. Yet, I don't question its impetus that drives me to ignore my hurt and disregard my vertigo completely. I go where it beckons me to their little boy, a little boy that in a different lifetime could have been ours. Dropping down next to Seth, I am so entrenched in my feelings that I'm shocked when my hand gets pushed away by his father. Skin collides with skin while two streams of light burst into the air. One red and one green, they coil tightly around each other. Sparking on contact, the mutual storms of my passion and his control whip back and forth between us. Locked in a never-ending battle, there is no defeat. There is no compromise. There is only emptiness.

"I said no," his voice tells me low and threatening.

He will not share his warmth with me.

"He isn't your concern. I won't let you hurt him like you did with me."

Dumbly, I stare at his lips as they give full range to his feelings. Angry, hurt words tumble out of them. Nicking my heart, I say nothing. What does someone says to another who will not grant her even the slightest reprieve?

Staring down at Seth's pain contorted face, the medallion begins to burn hotly against my skin while something very nasty and violent breaks in me. A fierce possessiveness cuts away at my usual calm temperament. Snapping my head back up, a dark satisfaction starts to simmer as his father's eyes grow larger.

In the back of my mind, fear begins to take hold, because I am no longer guiding my actions. Opening my mouth to speak, a harsh, staccato, gibberish comes out. Papers fly off the table while the freezer's doors open and close over and over, but my ranting does not cease. I am lost. Max won't or can't help me find my way back, so I return to the only thing I know. "Why did you trick me? I loved you so much. You never did."

When he finally answers me, he sounds raw and broken. "We're going to be going in circles for forever, aren't we?" Taking my hand, Max places it on his son's forehead. Green sparks move peacefully back and forth between Seth and me. The panic and despair that just seconds ago was everywhere is washed away by a curious energy that already seems as familiar to me as his father's once was.

Dusting off his pants, he gets up. "I want you to remember one thing. When this is over, Seth is going back home with me."

"I know."

"If you hurt him Liz, if you hurt him, there is not a place I won't look for you," he threatens.

"I won't."

"As for forgiving you, for lying to me for making me think that you slept with the one person that I could never be for you. I did that a long time ago, so the ball is in your court."

Men and their sport's analogies.

"After eight years, I think it's time."

"For what?"

"For you to forgive me, for sleeping with Tess," he says passing underneath the plastic awning. For seconds or maybe minutes, I stare at the doorway. From outside, I can hear Max speaking to someone in a quick rabid succession of Antarian firing off orders no doubt to someone.

Playing with a lock of Seth's hair, I lean down and kiss his newly cooled cheek. Against my skin, I feel his lashes tickle as they open.

"Hey, you kissed me."

The sight of his alert eyes and ruddy face is a strange comfort. There is no greater torture to a parent than a sick child Winnie used to tell me. Let this virus bring its full brunt on to me, but not on to my little Sierra. "Feel free to wipe it off if you like."

He makes a big production of wiping his cheek against my shirt. "I'm too old for kisses Liz. " he tells me before pausing and grabbing at my shirt. "Daddy, is here, isn't he?"

"Yeah," I answer.

"We're on the wrong track again," he says thrusting his thumb into his mouth.

"Everything is going to be okay."

He takes his thumb out of his mouth and shocks me completely by wiggling on to my lap. "It's not okay Liz," he says seriously before pressing his head into the nuke of my neck.

I start stroking his tensed back. "Seth, do you want to tell me what you saw?"

He shakes his head against me.

"It might not be so scary if you talked about it."

"Daddy is always saying the same thing," he grumbles. "Getting scared is for babies, I'm not a baby. So don't treat me like one," he orders.

"Okay."

"Fine," he sighs looking at me. "I'll tell you if you're going to make me."

I smile against his forehead at his petulant nature that seems so different from both his parents.

"I saw you die again. You can't die. If you die, it messes everything up." He rushes out before burrowing his head back into me.

How do you comfort a seven year old who has predicted your own demise? I could tell him that death has never been a stranger to me. It tried to take me eight years ago and four years after that, but it got diverted and settled for my friend, my family, and a little girl. I was lying to Larek. I do feel guilty. I shouldn't be here when they're not. In the end, I settle and tell him nothing.

Seth's arms wrap tighter around my neck. "I throw white roses on the box they put you in. I don't want them to put you in the ground because that's not what we do at home, but daddy says that how you do it here."

"He's right." I should certainly know.

"I put my favorite stuffed animal in there, so she'll have something to play with."

'So who will have something to play with, honey?"

The rustle of plastic sounds, and his father appears in the doorway.

"The baby," is all Seth says as he turns to look at Max. "Daddy you have to save Liz's baby."


	16. Forward Movements

Quotes: Sexual Healing, Heart of Mine,

I just wanted to say thanks for your patience. I've been a very bad writer about updating here. I think it has something to dowith I can just cut and paste which makes me lazy. So I'm trying to do it all in one setting.

JeNsEnSwifeyChAdZlover- I love your nickname for Seth. It cracks me up each time I read it.

Beth1685 Kyle is coming. I'm trying to weave him in to the plot, because you know Kyle needs to be seen. Well, I want him to give Max hell. MUAHAHAHAHA!

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Forward Movements 

Baby," I ask panic starting to churn within my stomach.

"Baby, " Seth repeats rather happily.

"Baby," I say again lifting Seth off my lap. I'm single. I'm twenty-four. I have no money. I don't even own my home. What do I even know about babies? Hell, half the time I can't even take care of myself. We used protection. "How could this happen? " I ask the other adult in the room whose expression looks far away and very detached. A slight grimace of pain forms along his mouth.

I scoot forward to him hating the feeling that is taking root in my heart. After all these years, it still breathes into being this need or insanity to protect and keep him safe. My body literally burns to cross the space between us, to trace my hand down his scarred face, anything to take that look away from him, but what could I do really. I'm just a human woman, a slightly bruised one at that, so I stay put. I have enough problems as is.

"You see, men put babies inside ladies' tummies, but sometimes, they get lost and they have to be put in other ladies' tummies. You're a little old not to know where babies come from. I read all about it in a book, and then daddy explained it some more for me. I love science, so dad buys me lots of books about it. He reads them to me, because I can't read very good, but he says that if I keep trying I'll get better. He said he couldn't read very good, but he used to practice reading with some girl. "

_"Aaaa...re...r," Max frowns shifting in the beanbag chair. "I don't know what it is." _

"Are, it's a very hard one to get. It took me and Maria forever."

"Then why isn't it the letter r?"

"Don't know. Maria wanted to write the dictionary people and tell them they were spelling it wrong. We just have to practice a little more then you'll get it."

"Thanks for helping me." He looks glumly around the library. " It must suck having to be in here with me instead of being outside playing, because Mrs. Kelley is making you."

"No, I asked her to let me help you."

"You did?" his face brightens.

"Yep, until Maria comes back then I'll have to help her catch up."

"She must have a very bad cold. She's missed a lot of days."

"She doesn't have a cold Max."

"What is it? Is she okay? Maybe, I could help."

I lean in closer to him. "If I tell you something, you can't tell anyone," I whisper.

"I promise."

"Pinkie swear."

"What's a pinkie swear?"

"You do like this with your little finger and say pinkie swear."

"I pinkie swear," he answers me. "I'm very good at keeping secrets. You can tell me Liz. I won't tell anyone."

"Her dad left, and he isn't coming back. He hasn't called her at all. Why would a dad do that?" I rush out.

"I don't know. I won't ever do that when I'm a dad."

"I won't ever do that if I was a mom either."

"You're sad for her."

"Yes, people aren't supposed to say I love you and then leave. He was always saying he loved her, and now he's gone."

"My mom and dad say that all the time."

"Mine too."

"What if they went away Liz and never came back?"

"You could come and live at my house. We have a lot of rooms."

"Okay," he nods.

"Or you could call me, and I would come and get you."

"Pinkie swear," he smiles.

"Pinkie swear," I answer.

"You're not listening to me, are you Liz?" Seth frowns.

"No, I got it. Men puts babies in ladies' tummies, and you like to read science books."

"And Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl," Seth pipes in. "You could read me some books sometimes to if you wanted to. Hey, where are you going?" he grabs my wrist.

"Something is wrong with your dad. I think he needs me."

"He's on a trip. You shouldn't touch him when he's like that."

"I think we need to make a rule about not going on any more vacations."

"No, he's not on vacation. He's on a trip."

"The difference is what?"

"I don't know. Ask him when he gets back? You can't ever touch him, or he might stuffhacate you."

"But, he looks like he's hurt or something."

"Don't touch him," Seth repeats. "He's always telling me not to."

"Okay," I grab the straps of my purse and pull it out from underneath the table.

"You're acting funny Liz."

Funny is falling for your best friend who happens to be your boss who happens to be possessed from time to time by the ex alien boyfriend scum who broke your heart and finding out you might be pregnant and not being able to know which one of them actually attracted you in the first place. That's funny. HA HA HA! It's official. I've turned into Maria. I close my eyes to try and calm the raging spiral that is currently my brain.

Focus. Gather facts and form a hypothesis and reach a conclusion. I dump the contents of my purse out onto the floor.

"You don't seem very happy about the baby. Mommies are supposed to want their babies. You want your baby, right?"

Endless howling, diapers, carrying around an extra thirty pounds, yeah, I want a baby right now as much as I want a bullet to the head.

My hand drifts down to my abdomen.

I bite my bottom lip. Considering Seth's own origins, I choose my next words very carefully. "I don't know. I'm just very confused."

"My dad was to when he found out I got put in Tess' tummy. That's why he doesn't want to have any more kids. He doesn't think he's a very good dad."

"Why does he think that?"

Seth shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. I tell him he's the best dad all the time, but he never listens to me. If I didn't like him, I wouldn't want to be around him all the time. Kids want to be with people that like them. They can tell when people don't like them,  
like Tess," he says with distaste.

"That sounds logical." I flip open my pocket calendar looking for the tell tale red x.

Seth sticks his dark head in front of my view. "What are you doing? Why are you counting?"

"We have to go," a now coherent Max announces rather testily.

Both Seth and I look up over the edge of my calendar. "I'm a little busy here your highness."

"Yeah, we're counting dad. I don't know why we're counting, but we're counting. It's very important that we keep counting, and then I have to help Liz put all of her stuff back into her purse and that might take a while."

"Seth," comes Max's stern rebuff.

"Daddy, I'm sorry I had to mind warp you," he apologizes in a rush, " but I have to stay with Liz, and you weren't listening to me. It just happened, and Miranda says sometimes you have to be your own person, and do things that other people don't understand. Serena says you have to be sneaky to help people. I'm just trying to help Liz and get my sister born and and... Liz had a man in her bed, and he didn't have a shirt on so please don't be mad at me dad. You should be mad at Liz."

Little shit. My eyes shoot up from my calendar with a semi answer to my current fertility state in mind.

I watch the tendons bulge in Max's neck as his face struggles to remain his patent alien self. He doesn't want me, but no one else can have me either.

Men.

They don't want anyone playing with their discarded toys no matter the species.

He looks away from me, and back at Seth. "Liz is an adult. She can do want she wants. You need to take responsibility for your own actions instead of trying to hide behind others."

"Sorry."

"Don't say sorry to me. Say sorry to Liz."

"Sorry Liz," he grumbles.

"It isn't safe for you to be running around Seth, and it makes even worse when I don't know where you are."

"I know dad," Seth answers.

"I wasn't listening to you and that made you mad." He rustles his son's hair, but he's looking directly at me when he says his next words, "that was my mistake." Switching over into Antarian, I lose complete track of the conversation. For some reason, I'm grateful. The two of us seem to be dancing to a one step forward and three step back beat that I'm terrified of changing, because there's safety in never touching or meeting in the center.

I've betted and lost too much on him already. I decide picking up the dull pocket knife from the floor and wondering at the perversion that causes me to carry it still. Acting on some masochistic necessity, my finger's swirl over the hokey inscription burned into the medal body. Its words a warning against forgetting life's most crucial rule. Nothing ever lasts.

_"But, Max I gave this to you last Christmas." _

"And I'm giving it back to you."

The knife falls back into my bag. Looking down into it, I can't help but read the taunting words.

Max & Liz 4-Ever.

_"If you go now, our friendship is over." _

"Hmm," my eyes snap up to see Max's figure crouching in front of me. "What did you say?"

"It's nothing," he tells me while his attention seems to be glued to my bag. "Can we go?"

"Sure," I mumble. The fact that he's making a request and not a command isn't lost on me, or the way his arm naturally falls around my waist to support me as I stand. I swallow.

"You don't have to worry," he whispers over my shoulder .

"About what?" I turn around in his hold. I'm close, close enough to be reminded of the golden specs in his eyes. Needing some sort of barrier, I place both my hands on his chest only to have his warmth seep up through my icy fingers.

This time, Max, is the one who swallows as he looks up from where my hands are. "I um..," he stutters as a pink shade tinges his cheeks. "This isn't any of my business," he pauses as I'm reminded of the boy that getting to talk to me was like pulling teeth. I guess some things don't change.

One hand leaves my waist and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, but not before he presses the lock between his fingers . Then there's that.

"Seth sometimes gets confused."

"I do not," Seth says behind us.

I jump having literally forgotten that he was in the room. This isn't good. I try and back out of Max's hold, but he doesn't let me.

"You're not pregnant Liz."

Strangely enough, I feel my face fall. My movement backwards halt as I say goodbye to the prospect of tiny baby feet and a little warm bundle of life to hold and take care of.

"I never said she had the baby inside of her right now," Seth adds.

"Could we have silence from the peanut gallery?"

"Sorry dad."

"I'm sorry if he got your hopes up. Did you want to be pregnant?" Max probes gently.

I scrunch up my face. "Of course not, I'm only twenty four." It should feel like I dodged a bullet, but it doesn't. "I want to go to med school, and I don't even have any money."

"Dad has lots of money."

"I don't know anything about being a mom. I probably screw the kid up royally.

"No you wouldn't," two small arms wrap around my legs. "You would be the best mom ever."

"Seth."

"What dad? Everyone is hugging. I wanna be in the hug to."

To my horror, I realize we are in fact hugging. Casually, I try and withdraw, because these two will never belong to me. They don't even live in my solar system. While Max lets go, his son only holds on to me tighter, balling the fabric of my shirt up into his fists, letting go doesn't seem to be an option for Seth.

"What's wrong, honey?" I lay my hand on the back of his neck intending to stroke it, but the moment my skin touches his something opens up between us.

There's fear so much fear. Rocking back and forth, all he wants is his daddy, because his daddy would stop her from being bad and make the sad lady stop screaming. He stops rocking and uncovers his ears. Peeking out from underneath a table, he listens for the sad lady, but all he can hear is a thumping in his ears. Turning his head, he hears something, a slight mummer, and he shoots back underneath the table top.

They scream.

They moan.

They get really quiet just like the sad lady. He doesn't ever want to get quiet. He likes being loud, but now right now he has to be very quiet. He's safe under here, but the sad lady is most certainly not. Gazing upwards, he pulls something sticky off the top and watches as it comes down on his head in long thin strings. He's pulling another string off when the table is ripped away from over his head.

A pair of blue eyes finally find him.

I suck in my breath as the flash dissolves prematurely. Not surprisingly, I find Max's hand over mine.

"What did she do to him?" I demand, because so help me I'm going to find Tess Harding, and bash her perky little face in. She's his mother for God sakes. I take a breath trying to erase his terror that I now feel coursing through my own veins.

"Could you be a little more specific?" Alien Max asks.

Five minutes, he's already back to that. "I'll be specific." I'm about to give a play by play when I see Seth looking up at the two of us rather confused. Angrily, my gaze falls back on to Max. I can't confront him with Seth here, and he knows it. It takes an almost super human strength to hold back the heat of my words. "You said you wanted to be friends. You don't even know the meaning of the word. It must be to much of a human concept for you to grasp."

"Then why don't you go back to your human friends, Liz?" he sneers.

"Fine, I'm out of here." I grab my purse. I don't need this shit. I definitely don't need Max Evans. There's not a single thing that could ever bind me to him.

"What did you see inside of me Liz? Am I bad inside?" a suddenly very unsure Seth asks me.

Like a band being stretched to the limits, it snaps back into place and so do I. I almost have to laugh at the irony that a child that he had with another woman is the single thing keeping me from walking out the door. A wave of guilt flashes through me. What must Seth be thinking? I used to hate it when my parents fought, but you're not his parent a little voice reminds me. He's got a psychotic killer for a mother and a repressed liar for a father.

Turning around, I'm surprised to find him already at my side. I kneel down to him. My heart clinches at the expression on his face. Soft and vulnerable, his eyes look the same way his father's did the day I took my infamous trek down that hill. They are just a shade softer than the color they were when he stared through my window as I shattered his dreams once and for all. Stonily, Max looks at me. I can see the certainty in his face that I'm going to do it again, but this time to his child. He's hovering close by waiting to jump into action,  
to pick up the pieces. For a moment, I wonder how many times he's had to during Seth's very short life.

I bite my bottom lip and fight the water building in my eyes. I almost did it to. I almost walked, because I was angry. I have to stay still now. I'll stay still for Seth even though he'll never stay still for me. Reaching out, I run my thumb down his cheek and watch as a green spark spreads over it, marveling at the power I have. This time I won't run from it, because its intensity defies all logic, or because I know sooner or later I'm going to have to give it back. I press my lips together. "I didn't see anything bad inside of you. You were very small, three maybe four." I curl his hair around my finger. "You were very scared and that upset me." Sliding my finger out of the loop, the hair falls straight around his face. Why is his hair straight? It should be curly. Curly hair is a dominant trait. Mothers aren't supposed to yank their children out from under tables. Length could pull curls out. Nasedo was definitely not the most loving of role models.

"I don't remember that." He turns to his father. "What's Liz talking about?"

I can literally see the conflict on his face, because whatever that was is definitely something he doesn't want to be talking about. Yet, he doesn't want to lie to his son either.

Ah. the no win situation of trying to protect someone you love. I want to say to him, 'see what's it's like. Do you think I enjoyed lying to you over and over? Because a little part died of me each time I did it.' But, I say none of those things. They would only fall on deaf ears. For all his words, Max hasn't forgiven me at all. Yet, I bail him with a question whose answer I dread. "Did you see bad things in me Seth?"

At the sound of his name, Seth turns away from his father. "You're not bad. You're just very, very sad. You're feelings got broken because of that you could be very bad if you wanted to even badder than Tess. You could be the worstest." He turns back to Max, "Daddy, they're here."

"Come on," Max nudges me.

"Who's here?"

The plastic parts as a very controlled Alex enters. Grey, my mind corrects. He's Grey. Not Alex. Alex is dead. "They want to see her."

The frowns on Max's face only intensify. "That's out of the question. How do they even know about her?"

"Someone must have leaked it from the council coupled with the scions she nuked that much psychic activity in one sitting is bound to cause ripples not to mention she being reunited with the charge. You have to see what's happening."

"He is not her charge. If you're asking me to believe in a bunch of hocus pocus, I won't."

"Hey, I may have no idea what you are talking about, but I'm still in the room."

"We'll you're leaving the room," kicking away a rubber matting his actions reveal an iron man hole cover in the floor. Unscrewing the top, I see him cringe as he looks down into it.

"Oh, no I'm not. I came here for answers about the virus," I demand. There's a hole in the floor. I'm wondering why this all strangely makes sense to me. My fingers curl around the plastic body of my cell. I need Maria.

"Let us handle it."

"Because you've done such a great job with it back home," Seth squeezes my hand. A jolt of his energy travels up my arm at contact. Settling down within me, it's message is clear, back off. For some inexplicable reason, I do. "Fine," I smile in feigned sweetness.

Grey thrusts a pair of sunglasses into my hands. "For when youget outside. Your eyes are going to be extremely sensitive to the light."

"Go with them," the king commands.

"Don't you think I should stay?" he asks.

"I'm technically one of them all things considered."

"They want their mother not their father in this situation."

What the hell are they talking about?

"It's the novelty of the situation that they want," Max adds. "Nothing more and nothing less."

"If you say so, you already know where I lay on the equation." Grey says before dropping himself down into the darkness. Leaning over, I watch a dim light sprout out of the black.

Max leans down to Seth. "I want you to do everything Liz tells you. That's the deal we made, remember?"

"I'll be good dad."

"You're always good Seth," he brushes his hair. "You need me to help you down?"

"The spaces, you don't like looking at them." Seth reminds him.

"I know, but I can," Max pauses once again over the mouth before backing away.

"Don't worry, I'm big. I like it down there anyway," Seth answers before being grabbed from below by Grey.

"This is insanity. You want me to run around in a cave."

Max looks up at me, and I jump back.

"Your eyes are glowing."

"Which means you need to get yourself down there."

"Or what?"

"Have you ever been in love?" her childlike voice asks from my left.

"Sierra."

"Up and down never side to side," his deeper one weaves into hers.

"Daddy." I flick my head to the right.

"Never grow up. Never have sex. Never stop being my baby girl."

"Mom. They're here. I can feel them." A tantalizing warmth hovers just beyond my reach one that I just have to touch. Moving my hand forward, I'm shocked when I'm grabbed roughly from behind and go tumbling down into Grey's arms. Dazed, I watch as the black cover is moved back into place blocking the feeling from me.

I wiggle out of Grey's arms. "NO," I stand frantically on my tiptoes intending to bang on it until my knuckles bleed if I have to.

"They're dead Liz," Grey says.

"I heard them."

"They're not real," Seth adds. "They just want to eat your energy like the scions did. They like you like I like macaroni, because I can't get macaroni at home."

"I don't understand," I stare hopelessly up at the cover as a mildew smell overcomes me.

"Come on Liz," Alex wraps his arm around my waist.

"I just don't understand Alex."

"In time, you will."

"Dad is going to help you."

"Right," I snort seeing nothing behind but dark rock, which seems like a rather nice metaphor for my life as of late. I trip.

"If you keep looking behind you all the time, you're never going to get anywhere," Seth advises me.

"But the only problem is I'm afraid to go anywhere," I whisper.


	17. Open Your Eyes

The movement you've all been waiting for. Well sort of. Want to know what I'm talking about read on.

I'm feeling dorky. Can you guys tell:)

Poll Questions:

Are the people on Lost really dead or are they on some freaky ass deserted island?

Noel or Ben?

Pop or Soda?

NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Open Your Eyes

Moodily, I squeeze through the tight passage and scrape my thighs in the process. I mumble several colorful obscenities that barely put a dent in the silence that seems to exist here. Though I don't know how long we've been walking, the earthen tube encasing us never seems to change. It's a picture of stagnancy where light and sound ceased long ago from visiting. If life is about changing, evolving and growing, this place is its antithesis. This place is about death.

In the back of a mind, I feel guilt try and chime in with his opinions. I hold him off by focusing on the faint mildew smell, counting my steps, any other little thing I can think of to keep my mind busy.

I glance up at the ceiling curving just over my head and bite down on my bottom lip. Within my mind, the door springs open and guilt ambles right through it.

Two years is my first thought followed by the look on Max's face when he gazed down into that hole picturing whatever monsters that run rampant in his head.

Needing something to shove, I smack my hand hard against impenetrable rock.

Don't do this.

I lift my left and right foot up and down and count off two hundred and two hundred and one. I try with all my might to push guilt out, but his lips turn upwards in a devilish, undeniable smile.

For two years, I can't stop thinking. They had Max in something like this. Or was it smaller? I imagine a dozen torture devices. Images of hanging whicker basket prisons, pits, the wrack, and the ending scene of Braveheart string together into a morbid montage. If these devices were human ingenuity at its best, what was Antarian ingenuity like?

This simple question lights a fire in my imagination. With no other barrier to hold me back, I dive head first bringing together the worst my mind can conjure. I see knives, needles and fire.

"Grey, something's the matter with Liz."

_"Your memories of her hardly do her justice." _

Of course, Khivar mind raped him. You already knew that.

"Liz?" Reaching through the space, Grey holds his glowing red hand up to my face.

I am reminded of the Red Tide I saw with Brian off the Gulf of Mexico.

"You're burning up."

"I'm fine." I grit not wanting his concern or comfort. No one comforted Max when he was down in God knows where having God knows what done to him. Why the hell did it take them two years to get him? He was their king for crying aloud. They should have helped him. To live all those days in fear, a boom echoes from outside the chamber. "Is that thunder?" I ask Grey grabbing on to my medallion, but I never hear his answer.

_"They're going to come for me Kyle. It's only a matter of time before the Special Unit is knocking down my door. I did something really stupid just now. I wasn't thinking. I just acted." My heart races while I try to pinpoint why upsets me the most the prospect of my impending dissection or the fact that Brian could have actually really seen me when we kissed and that's why he bolted. _

"You need to calm down Liz," Kyle's tells me smoothly. Even from a thousand miles away, I can hear the subtle rise in pitch in his voice and feel my adrenaline lessen as a result. "Are you using your powers on me?" I demand.

"They're not going to come for you Liz," he answers side stepping my question. " No one can link you to the event. You were just a scientist that got nabbed by some extremists. It's what Ho Chi Minh City thinks. It's what Washington thinks."

"How much did it cost for you to clean this up for me?" I touch my lips. How careless can one person be?

"Don't worry about it. You're safe. I won't let anything happen," he vows.

I frown wondering how a junior FBI agent has as much power as Kyle seems to exert, but something holds me back from asking the obvious question. Curiosity killed Liz Parker, and Elizabeth Parker isn't going to make the same mistake twice.

I flinch at the noise. There it goes again. You're being childish. It's nothing more than air expanding and being compressed by heat.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a thunderstorm." I draw the curtains against the offending clouds.

"Where's Brian?"

Well, Kyle I decided to be carpe diem woman, so I kissed my boss who ran off because he knows I'm actually four feet tall and green with five hundred eyes. No, I shake my head that sounds neurotic.

"Liz, where is he?"

Calling the special unit right now to take me away. No, I frown now you've left neurotic for down right paranoia. Finally, I settle for honesty. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? He's leaving you alone in this."

"He's not my guardian Kyle."

"We'll he could have fooled me. The guy definitely has a thing for you."

"He does not." I lick my lips trying once again to pick out his taste, but there isn't any.

"Liz, you never think anyone has a thing for you."

"He would be in the definite non thing having category."

"Since when?"

"Since I made a pass at him, and he made quite a speedy exit out the door to the nearest phone to call..."

"First off, he wouldn't do that," Kyle interrupts. "Is this why you're freaking out about the special unit?"

"It was stupid of me."

"You've kissed other guys, and nothing remotely weird happened?"

My face flushes. "Yes, but this felt different. I don't even know why I did it."

"Do you think it was the alien…"

"I have to jump someone now syndrome," I finish. "No, it's definitely a human thing, but there was just something different about it, something familiar and intense."

"Like when we," his voice softens.

I twist my hair around my finger.

"Do you ever regret being with me?"

"No."

"If you hadn't changed things, you're first time would have been with Max."

Why in the hell did I even tell him about that? Way to play on his insecurities. "I never thought of him, never once." Kyle will never know how afterwards my mother found me on the bathroom floor mourning the final break in the chain that was Max and Liz.

From the silence on the other end, I can tell Kyle isn't buying my explanation. "I wouldn't have stayed with you, Kyle if I didn't want to be."

"Then I left you."

"We grew apart." I state bluntly no wanting to revisit this little part of our history together.

"I always felt guilty for leaving you. You realize nothing ever happened between Hannah and I until I ended things with you."

"Don't," comes my blunt response, but Kyle seems to be content to keep going on his merry little way.

"It's how I know about Brian. When I saw him at the hospital Liz, he just took control of everything. Maria and I were so out of it. He just stepped in when he was definitely hurting more than the two of us combined. It was so clear to me then."

"What?"

"He was going to take care of you."

I don't need to be taken care of. I can take care of myself. My eyes drift to my blotchy face and sunken features in the mirror.

"I didn't feel guilty anymore."

I whimper and cover my ears against the sound outside.

"Liz?"

"I should really go," I answer feeling like a complete child. "I can handle it, and Brian just came in, so it's fine."

"Liar."

"You have work tomorrow." I gaze at my watch. "It's like two o'clock, and there's no telling what Hannah is thinking."

"Hannah understand about us."

"Kyle, I really like her and having your ex girlfriend call you up two o'clock in the morning isn't really a good thing. It's on the same level as having your reincarnated wife running around. Thank you for listening, I'll talk to you later, bye."

From outside, another peel of thunder crackles, and my cell phone falls to the floor. At the same time, the lights over my head cut off taking with it the buzz of the fan.

I take a shallow breath as the non descript hotel room becomes something dark where even the body of my cell phone looks sinister.

I can't stay here.

"Liz, what's wrong? You shouldn't be going on trips. Vacations are fine, but not trips."

I'm conscious of Seth yanking on me, and yelling for his daddy to make Nessa stop, but my grip on the medallion only tightens.

I am laying on something hard. From the tingling sensation in my butt and legs, I've been lying here for sometime. Liquid soaks my clothes while an itch begs to be scratched on my heel, and then I feel it. The deep pounding resonate through the floor. I try to curl up into a ball, but my body won' t move. It can't move.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME," I shriek.

Almost immediately, a force takes me away from the unknown tormentor. Wisps of unincorporated thought tunnel into my head.

A knife whose blade burns a bright orange.

"Dadda," a small voice says for the very first time.

Fingertips tuck a strand of dark satin hair behind a ear.

A warmth eats away my fear. I imagine his hand in my hair stroking up and down my head like he used to do. The way he would cup my face before his mouth would lean down to tease mine by sucking my bottom lip in and out of his mouth.

"Hija, you need to open your eyes," a familiar accent tells me while two fleshy hands pat my cheeks.

Don't wanna. I'm quite happy right here thank you very much. Every adage against having too much of a good sounds as I see Max cupping Tess' face at prom. Did he stroke her hair the same way he stroked mine?

My eyes snap open freeing up my tears to fall.

I groan as sixty pounds of boy jumps into my lap. "Don't ever do that again. You scared me. You scared daddy. That's not nice at all," Seth admonishes before strangling me with a hug, but he pulls away just as fast. "Her eyes are bleeding. Her eyes are bleeding. Why are her eyes bleeding Serena?"

Grey pulls Seth unceremoniously from my lap, and they continue in our present direction. "Where are we going? I can't leave Liz. This isn't fair. You need to put me down right now Grey, or I'm going to tell my daddy on you. I'm supposed to stay with Liz. That's the rule." Gradually, Seth's protests fade into the distance.

For the first time, I realize that air tight tunnel has now expanded into a rather wide cavern. Picking up some rocks, I start piling them on top of each other.

A slight shuffle sounds. My head jerks up to see Larek's emissary white faced and staring down at me. For a moment, we just gaze at each other.

"Are you alright?" we both ask in unison.

"Fine," we answer together.

"So you're sure you're okay now?"

A flush creeps into my skin. "I was just doing my hysterical female impression."

"I don't really think that hysterical and Liz Parker belong in the same sentence."

"You should have been here when Pierce took him. I had never been so scared in my entire life, but Tess knew he was okay." I look downwards while a weird energy seems to hover between us, one I can't really pinpoint. "She could always sense things about him that I couldn't."

He inhales a shallow breath before passing me and taking up a position at Serena's side.

"Isn't cute how protective Seth is of you? " Serena finally says in attempt to cut through what Maria would deem distorted vibage.

I wipe my eyes. "Seth will get tired of that soon enough. I'm just a novelty to him"

"Why do you think that?" Larek asks.

"He takes after his father, doesn't he?"

"You weren't a novelty to him."

"Seth's existence disproves that, doesn't it?" I snap feeling immediately guilty for the comment. Larek has been nothing but kind to me. Here I'm acting like some preteen queen. "I mean…" I gesture. "What does it matter what I mean? This doesn't concern me at all."

"You're wrong there. Everything about this concerns you. You're the half backer in all of this." Serena explains.

Halfbacker. I frown waiting for Larek to correct her, but he doesn't. "Quarterback," I finally figure.

"That to. The first Antarians came from the ground." She goes on to give me what might be a rather interesting summary of Antarian evolution, but I'm not listening.

I don't want a history lesson on Antar. I want to know why Max took the time to possess Brian. Why can he be gentle and kind to me as Brian but not say a nice word to me as Max? He had a planet to rule and a son to raise. There had to be some nefarious reason for him to be spying on me.

Arching my stiff neck backwards, I see for the first time a weird etching behind me. "Serena, what is this?"

"You can see it?" Larek asks sounding surprised and little dismayed at the prospect.

"Of course, I can see it."

"The number of people that can actually see those drawings hija numbers a finger full."

"Huh?"

"You say that a lot. What does that really mean?"

"You want me to define huh for you?"

"I'm just curious."

"It's like oh."

"Oh?"

"The letter?" she asks sounding generally interested. "While you're at it explain to me this um bit. What is um?"

"Can we do this some other time?" Larek snipes.

"It will serve you right if you never get hatched," she flicks him in the arm.

Hoping to halt the progression of another one of their more colorful mother and son dialogues, I ask about the particulars of current location.

"You see hija this an fifteenth century aqueduct used to divert water from the city."

"An unofficially?"

"It's a holy site for a sect of Antarians. Those drawings indicate an energy unification."

"I don't get it."

"I'm not a follower of Nessa, so my knowledge is very limited."

"You're implying what that I am?" I flip up my necklace. "He gave me this as some love token thing. I must have tried every way I could think of to destroy it."

"No one asked you to keep it," Larek snaps.

I blink in surprise.

"Larek, darling, if you're going to be a donkey's behind maybe you should take this nice boy's body back to the surface and leave Liz and me here to have a little girl talk."

He grumbles an apology.

"Before I was rudely interrupted by the most stubborn, pigheaded, unyielding, controlling, twit…."

"Are you done yet?" Larek demands.

"Hija, it's a shame you don't know Antarian. There's just so many adjective to describe this dear boy before me. However, I think ah-ti-lan does it with the most justice."

"Serena please," the agitation in Larek's voice has diminished to an almost pleading that somehow has the power to sway Serena from her current path.

"Like, I was saying The problem is Nessa doesn't want to be rid of you. It's why she allows you to see her message. A kinship exists between the two of you that she finds to be pleasing."

"What sort of kinship?" I ask chewing on my lip.

"I don't know. I can just sense it." Her meaty hand takes mine. "Now put your hand over where you see the drawings and tell me what you see."

"I can't if I'm covering it."

"Close your eyes and try and let your mind blank out," Larek says resting his hand on my cheek as a strange feeling of deja vous starts to form.

On contact, words tumble out of my mouth. "An eye is split in half. There's a lot of distance between the two parts. They're both so hurt. The funny thing is that they would still risk everything to keep the other safe. How can you be at such odds and still feel that?" I ask turning to him.

"Intense feeling has a tendency to rise above petty disagreements when needs be." Serena answers for him. She mumbles something under her breath about stubborn people.

"They've loved each other," I begin again, "for what seems like lifetimes. The people around them change. Brothers become sisters. Sisters become best friends. Best friends become parents, but the two of them are always connected, and are always looking for each other. Sometimes they never find each other, but other times they do and other times they lose each other completely."

A tear falls down my face.

"We need to stop this now," Larek says tensely over my head.

"I can do this," I assure him as the puzzle starts to become even clearer in my head. "Does this mean we're predisposed to love who we love? It's like an infection. Once infected they never really leave us."

"How very romantic hija?"

"I am a scientist. Logic dictates that…"

"The heart isn't exactly logical," he interrupts. "Few things are. Sometimes you just want…" he stares at me.

"What do you want?"

"Forget it." He fidgets nervously before withdrawing his hand. With the loss of contact, I lose all connection with one half of the eye.

I frown.

"What else do you see Liz?" Serena prompts.

"There's a circle that binds the two eyes together."

From the corner of my eye, I watch Larek perk noticeably up. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about the circle?"

"She is lively and energetic, but even she has great trials to face."

"She," he repeats.

"I don't how a circle is female, but that's what I feel." I trace the line as it starts to grow erratic as it reaches one of the eyes. "She loses this part of the eye." I press my forehead against the stone.

"How? When?"

"I don't know."

"There has to be something," he demands.

"There's isn't anything."

"Is it decided?" he asks Serena.

"You know the answer to that." She tells him.

I smile as my finger tips drift to the other half of the blue eye and to the green triangle just above a mass of scrapping. "They adore her. They spoil her."

"What else do you see?" he whispers now directly behind me.

"Towards the bottom, there's just a mass of scrapping. It doesn't form anything. It's angry. It was denied what it thought it deserved, so it blasted the eye apart. It wanted what they had, but what it got was something entirely different. It was her price for stealing something that wasn't ever hers to begin with," my voice turns bitter.

He winces.

"Just above it, there's a triangle coming out from it, but it doesn't belong with the scrapping. It wants to belong with this part of the eye here."

"The part that dies?"

"Yes, it needs to belong with it, but it's being pulled back to the scrapping, but the circle keeps it from going all the way. When it comes down to it, the circle can give him what the scrapping can't."

"What?"

"Her love. He may turn his back on everything else, but he will never do it to her."

"Why?"

My fingers travel up the circle to the squiggly eye. "She's his connection to the part of the eye that is lost." I blink and the circle disappears along with one of the blue eyes. The picture reforms itself before me leaving the remaining eye to look weak and defeated while the green triangle sits ominously at the center of the dark markings. Expanding and growing larger, both the scrapping and triangle eat away at the entire picture. "No," I whisper. "This isn't how it's supposed to be." A violence and a cold angry rage replaces the warmth and serenity of before. My legs give out from under me.

A sturdy arm keeps me from following on to the dust floor. "There's bodies, and death. so much death" I cry into Larek's shoulder. "It's in my head, and it won't get out."

He rocks me back and forth. "It's just some hocus pocus Liz nothing more than a parlor's trick."

"Nothing more than a parlor's trick."

Over his shoulder, I see a large blue eye enter the cavern. I jerk away from him.

"Liz what is it?" He asks.

"You were supposed to be down in Chiapas." A rather testy Nessa tells me. "Instead, you're reading things and rolling around in the dirt with him," she huffs.

"Larek was just.."

"Larek," she quips. "You were supposed to be one of the more smarter members of your species."

"Look, I'm under a little pressure right now. My dead best friend is now a virus. My ex came back with his kid. His wife tried to run me down. I have an alien king out there who wants to be breed with me so excuse me if I'm a little scattered at the moment. If you're some great goddess, why don't you give me some wisdom?"

"For future reference, I am not a goddess. I am an enlightened being. I didn't spend a millenniums learning the secrets of the galaxy to be called a goddess."

"Touchy much."

"Alright you want wisdom, I'll give you wisdom. I don't want it getting around I'm not a very good patroness." A tuff of blonde hair appears over her one eye. "Look Liz, I'm Brian." Dark long strands replaces the blonde one. "Look, Liz I'm Max."

"I already figured that out," I tell her dryly.

"Not done yet." The strands shorten. "Guess who I am now?"

"Huh?"

"What is this huh? Your education cost what most people spend on a modest house and you answer my counsel with huh. How he begged for my help. I had never seen anyone so torn up over another being before him. That was a novelty," she muses. "You're lucky that he was cute and that I have special place in my optic nerve for him despite the fact he has to be the most arrogant individual I have ever gazed upon, or you would have been dust by now Liz. So get down to Chiapas, before I lose my temper with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Behave yourself little girl and I must just show you. When you get down there tell the blonde hobbit if she thinks she can come down here and infect my house she has another thing coming?"

"Tess is down there."

"Give the girl a golden star."

"She's working with Khivar."

"Yes and no."

"Either she is working with him, or she isn't."

"She has side projects that he is as yet unaware of. Feel free to use that information with him either way you see fit. You are going to find another message from someone one quite special to you once you reach Chiapas, so don't read it to anyone please."

"Sorry."

"You're the first meaglan I've had in fifty years, so I'm a little rusty in the instructional department." She laughs.

"What?"

"The shock of you going under kicked him out of the vessel. Larek is going to have a field day with his highness. Open your eyes Liz. Open them large and wide because your prospective is no where close to being the full picture of what is around you. There is almost so much jolting I can do here," she says as her voice fades away and another angry one takes precedence.

"I'm going to kill him. When he comes back to Antar, I'm going to cut off his head and find a very pointy stick to put it on."

"Hijo, let's be reasonable."

"Don't hijo me."

"I'm the one who taught him to do this. I pictured Yvonne going through something like that alone, and I couldn't say no, but I should have."

"It was all the boy that night."

"How you do know mother?"

"I had never him seen him look so devastated than he did that night. In not all of his days with Khivar or when Seth was missing and Liz was sick did he ever look that way. It wasn't him."

"Maybe, he was feeling guilty."

"Or maybe he realized what his little plan had cost them."

"Then you tell me why their connected. There's a bond there. It's why she was able to call him as Brian."

"He's hiding. You of all people should understand that."

"He's twenty five years old. It's time he grows up." Larek turns towards me and realizes that I'm back from my little chat with Nessa. He falls to his knees down beside me. "How are you?"

"It depends if I'm really talking to you Larek. Do you think he lied to me? That we were actually…together."

"Larek is just being moody."

I don't listen to Serena who has already established a reputation for bending the truth.

"You know him better than I do," Larek answer diplomatically.

"I don't know him at all. He was Brian for I don't know how long. I never noticed it. He was you just now. How could he come here and not be scared?"

"He tapped into the vessel. The vessel isn't claustrophobic so by extension he wasn't either." Purposely, he yanks me off up to my feet.

"This bond you were talking were about. You think we slept together?"

"Larek is paranoid hija."

"You're freezing Liz," he takes his coat off and drapes it over my shoulders. "We're almost there."

"You're not answering my question."

"What did Max tell you Liz?" he sounds strained.

"He said it wasn't him. It wouldn't be real and that's not something he's interested in it."

"Then I would believe him. He may do a lot of things, but lying is one of them."

"I love it how you listen to my pessimistic son and not me," Serena huffs beside me. "Hija, if I had any suspicion that Max had done something so odious, I would take him and do bad things to him, scary things, things that I can't even tell someone so young as yourself."

"Then I would finish wherever, she left off," Larek adds.

"Then Miranda would take up with the leftovers. She can be very scary, takes after her father in that department. I've got chills just thinking about what she would do."

Strangely, I find myself smiling in this very weird situation that requires my sex life and two aliens that are willing to torture for me. "Miranda doesn't even know me."

"Our family has a thing for humans? We love even the odious ones. While she's technically not one of us, she is in all the ways that count. That's something you should remember hijo."

"Mother, she's fifty years old. She doesn't need me."

"A hug and phone call, a little apology would make a world of difference for her."

I tense being in the middle of an oncoming Serena and Larek smack down.

"I think you underestimate my significance in the situation."

"Hmm, see Liz you need to watch yourself with Larek, because he can be rather cold. Picture this. He rescues this darling, innocent little girl from certain death."

"Darling," he scoffs. "She was a hell raiser just like her mother. She was always getting into everything," he says with a faint smile on his lips.

"You loved her for that. He raises her and for all purposes is her father. He marries Yvonne. They have Seth. "

"Seth," I cough.

"Seth is named for my son Liz," Larek tells me with voice strained. "Mother, she isn't interested in learning our family's background.

However, Serena has other ideas. "They fall in love," she coos. "After much deal making with Dr. Phil here, they have a beautiful wedding. The weather was beautiful. Miranda was the most gorgeous bride ever. She just radiated. It was all for Seth. Five years down the road, she watches an animal slit his throat right in front of her face. What does my charming son do? He blames her for surviving."

"That isn't the case. I've tried so hard to tell her," Larek says in a faint whisper.

This isn't good. Think of something to distract her with.

"You're going to have to speak up Larek. I can't hear you."

"Well maybe if you would shut up for a moment Serena, Larek would be able to make himself heard over your nagging," a familiar voice adds.

Squinting my eyes, I can just barely make out Max and Seth's standing at the opening.

"You," Serena rushes at him in her characteristic fury. "You could be a little nicer to me. I was actually defending you."

For the second time today, I am body slammed by sixty pounds of all boy. "I was so worried. Grey made me come with him. I didn't want to leave you Liz. I really didn't." He says with so much earnestness. "So don't think I left you."

"Seth, it's okay."

"No, it's not okay." He frowns looking down on the ground. "I saw in your head that you're sad about people leaving you all the time and I…"

"You're in the clear okay," I choke.

"Cool, I have to show you something," he runs excitedly back out of the cave.

I look over my shoulder to see Larek lagging behind. "Are you alright?" I say softly.

"I've never been really good with words," he starts thoughtfully. Khivar and Zan were brilliant speakers. They could seduce any listener with just the power of their voice. I used to watch them and wonder how they did it. I was always the shy one. The thing about words are that if you don't say them the opportunity passes you by, and you might never get to say them."

I squeeze his hand.

"You're kind to listen to an old man ramble about nothing."

"I don't think you're rambling."

"After Seth died, Miranda left Yvonne and me. For us, it was like losing a son and a daughter at the same time. She kept up contact with my wife, but I barely saw her for the next thirty years. She can't forgive herself for what happened, and she thinks I can't forgive her to, but there was nothing to forgive her for."

I nod my head not understanding any of this but knowing that's not the point. Larek has things to tell and he's chosen me to listen to his telling.

"My wife got sick three years ago. Miranda came back to help me care for her. Yvonne begged me to say something to her. I tried so many times. I would find her in the library reading. I'd open my mouth to tell her how glad I was that she had come back, but a reminder about not folding back the pages of my books back would come out instead. She has a terrible habit of doing that when she reads. It was just little stupid things like that. I didn't mean anything by it, but she was taking it to heart anyway. She always feel so much more than she shows. It must be the Antarian in her."

"What if you called her and just told her what you told me?"

"It wouldn't work. I don't know how to talk to her anymore."

Looking forward, I see Serena launching in some tirade against Max and all but forgetting the one she was going to start with Larek, which was Max's point after all.  
"I don't know how to talk to him either. He's always hiding from me. The funny thing is that I miss talking to him. I miss it a lot. He would always listen to me even if I was talking about how interesting the life cycle of a fruit fly is."

"Your passion would appeal to him, because his people get passionate about very few things. I was wrong to doubt him," Larek muses. "He may be controlling, and he may be as stubborn as a mule, but there's one thing about Max that never changes. He'll go out of his way to protect his friends and to keep them safe. Healers can't stand for their love ones to be hurt whether it's the slightest of nicks. It's even worse when they're the ones guilty of the hurting." He smiles sadly.

"What are you saying?"

"He's hidden things to protect you and I imagine you're going to be angry when you find the scope of it out."

I open my mouth.

"I don't know what it is. I know bits and pieces even those are just things that I've put together over the years, but there's one thing you have to remember. He did it all to so you could have something he won't ever have. It looks like all the work he put into was for nothing anyway."

"What did he want me to have?"

"A normal life."

A lump forms in my throat. "I'm not a child Larek."

"No, but your knowledge of our world puts you on the same level as an infant. You have my disc."

"I've been running around all morning trying to get some answers about it."

"You were being guided by mother and here lies your little problem. Her agenda is different from mine. It's formatted for any laptop."

"I don't have a laptop."

"Brian does."

" Brian. Breakfast." I can't let this happen again. One day with Max and I'm already shitting on my friends. "I'm sorry Larek. I have to go out." I rush out and nearly stumble back into the darkness at the pain the light causes. "It's cloudy outside. There's barely any light. What's going on?"

"Take deep breaths Liz," Max says pressing the palms of his hands against my eyes. "Where are the sunglasses Grey gave you?"

"My purse."

I hear him fumbling with my things followed by him slipping the frames over my eyes.

"You need to wear sunglasses for now on until your eyes adjust."

"What are my eyes adjusting to?"

"You are going to be able to see special things," Seth pipes in. "My eyes used to hurt all the time when I was little. Why is she changing now daddy? She's a little old to be doing that. No, we're not doing this again. Larek put me down. Why does everyone carry me around? I have to stay with Liz. This is getting so frustrating."

Carefully, I open one eye a bit and gaze out from underneath my lashes. Finding that there's no knives jabbing into my eye sockets, I open them further to see Larek and Serena carrying Seth down a hill.

Looking up, a branch of some wild red flowers nestled within an electric green leaves blows in the wind. Curious, I reach up to bring it closer but am stopped.

"The thorns will cut you," Max warns.

I strain to see them but can make nothing out.

"Are you feeling any better?" A face asks me that for the moment is not wearing his patented mask. Concern weaves into his creased brow and the frown lines of his mouth.

I lick my lips.

His whole being seems to redirect to that part of my body.

"You did a nice thing for Larek back there."

"Serena doesn't understand the situation. It causes her to jump to conclusions that are not accurate."

"Keeping her in ignorance does what exactly?"

"It protects her from certain truths that she would find upsetting."

"I'm a grown woman."

"I know you are." His eyes do a quick sweep down my body that turn my inside into liquid.

I hug my legs to my chest attempting to cover myself from his gaze. Yet, there's some rebellious vestige left over from the love sick Liz Parker that isn't looking for control. It is this that compels my glove covered hand to snake up into his long hair and bring his face down to meet mine. Like some kitten, I contently rub my cheek back and forth against his stubble enjoying the roughness. I could do this forever. Against my skin, I feel his lashes as his eyes close. "Stop playing with me," I whisper into his ear.

"I'm not," his husky voice tells me.

"I'm giving you one chance to be upfront with me in your own body for a change. I suggest you take it, because after this there won't be anymore opportunities. Tell me why you're down here?"

"I'll tell you what I can."

Somewhere, he probably has some nondescript blonde stashed away that knows all of his secrets. Hell, he's a king. He probably has fifty of them. From somewhere I didn't know existed, a possessiveness over him takes hold. I may be part of his past, but I want my place in it. I want him to damn well remember me and what we could have had when it's cold and late at night. Taking a deep breath, I drag my trembling lips down his jaw. My kisses are soft and tentative. They hide the heat I currently feel.

"What are you doing?" he demands. His hands grab my shoulders forcefully as if he wants to push me away but just can't seem to complete the action fully.

Burying my face in the warm column of his neck, his peppermint aftershave, and a scent all of his own making assail me. Slowly, my mouth opens spurned on by the culinary of smells laid out before me.

"Liz," comes his strangled voice, but he doesn't stop me as my mouth latches on to the side of his neck. I am afforded one loving taste before the ice leaning over me comes to life.

He grabs me eliminating the distance between us in one fluid motion. Lowering me down the ground, hands find their way underneath my tank top. Starting just above my stomach, he slides them up the contours of my body like no time has passed at all. He still knows exactly where he wants to go. I'm still arching and doing anything possible to help him along his way.

We let out a shared hiss as his right hand presses lightly down on his handy work of nine years past. Within the space, he trails his thumb over and over in a small circular pattern until I yank him towards me.

He gives me a boyish grin as he cups my breasts as if saying in his mind's eye, 'are you happy now Liz?' Purposely, he flicks one bra strap down south to get better access.

He isn't doing anything that any man before him hasn't, but there's a world of difference in the results. I hear it in my moans and feel it in the wetness starting to pool between my legs. I want him. I want him now.

Roughly, I pull him more firmly down over me. His weight on top of me feels heavenly. My nails sink into the hard muscles along his back savoring the raw power that emanates from them.

Power, he could use to rip me in two.

_"If you leave now, our friendship is over." _

I buck.

Once. Twice.

As he finds a particularly sensitive spot on me.

My neck falls back as he sucks down on my pulse point. Pressing with a barely contained fury, he seems just as content to be marking me as I am to him.

I frown at the thought and the bug tickling its way down my back. Don't flake out. This is Max. I've fantasized about being with him more times than I could count.

Reaching down, I run my fingers lightly over the bulge in his jeans ready to explore areas that little Liz Parker never got around to, but I'm denied as Max pins my hands over my head. For his part, Max starts to sneak his way down to a place that Max the boy never ventured in his lifetime, but he hesitates just below my bellybutton.

I lick my lips that feel strangely left out of the situation. "Oh hell," I curse pushing him off me and yanking my shirt down over the mess that is my stomach.

"What?" he answers with something I like to think akin to desire in his eyes but at this moment I can't be sure of anything

"Did that seem strange to you?"

"Hmm," he continues to look like a child that has just been told that Santa Clause doesn't exist.

"You and me rolling around in the great outdoors when it's only been a day since I knew you were back." I sound scared. I feel scared. "You didn't kiss me once. You seem to be interested in some of the sights." I wince at the nearly exquisite pleasure and pain now coursing through my breasts. "Which is rather strange considering, Tess has much larger breasts than I'll ever have."

"Yours fit in my hands." He rolls over, so his face is away from me.

A jolt of something shoots through me at the comment. "I'm glad that they pass your muster," I croak, "even though my lips don't."

"You're different." He says propping his head up on his elbow with his mask firmly in place. "I'm different. Nine years ago, I wouldn't have grabbed you and forced you down on the ground like some animal. It won't happen again."

"What do you mean it won't happen again?" I tear my face away from him and am relieved that when I turn back that he is in fact wearing the face of no emotion. " I mean. You weren't forcing me."

"Did you ever imagine what our first time would have been like?"

"Yes."

"I don't think you imagined this."

"I was sixteen. I was rather of the imaginative and romantic persuasion."

"But you're not now?"

"No."

"Why did you stop me then?"

"Well in nature…"

"Don't hide behind science" his eyes flash in annoyance. "Tell me, what you feel?"

"You didn't kiss me," I accuse.

"It takes two to kiss. You didn't try to kiss me either." he says softly in the same vulnerable way the boy used to use with me all those years ago. Damn him for getting the same result with it.

Kisses mean flashes.

"Did it seem different to you?" he asks.

"We're not as awkward. I mean I went straight for your balls, and you swatted my hands away."

He looks taken aback by my language.

"You have a problem with me being sexual."

"No," he says holding his head as if he's developing a major sized headache. "Not when I was going straight for your…," he doesn't finish his sentence.

Max Evans is a prude.

"Before we wouldn't have done that."

"We would have worked our way up to doing it eventually if…"

"My future self hadn't come back." He rolls his eyes.

I cover my mouth. "You weren't ever supposed to know about that."

"You've been talking around it in just about every conservation we've had," he says gently.

"No, I haven't."

He grabs my hand. "Your loyalty to me defies logic. I think you've kept that secret for me and from me long enough."

"Is that your way of telling me that I'm silly?"

"It's my way of telling you that you have to be the most loyal person I know. Considering my track record with women, the fact that I don't trust any of them. It means a lot."

"What happened with Tess? The two of you were supposed to be happy together. I know she was in love with you."

"She was in love with the idea of me while I was too busy channeling my very caring and loving alien self to notice."

"That's impossible." I scoff standing over him.

"Excuse me?"

"You've got your mother giving edicts on how you married her."

"Zan never.."

"I'm not finished. Then there's your future self coming back to tell me, 'hey Liz. Guess what? We were married, but I want to change things, because in the end you just didn't do it for me, and you're not alien enough to help with what needs to get done."

"You being alien or not had nothing to do with anything."

"It had everything to do with it. I tried so hard to get Isabel to like me, but she hated my guts, but immediately she was all buddy buddy with her good friend Tess. Michael well.. Michael never really gave a shit about me.."

"He gave enough of a shit to go with you to the university where both you, and Maria could have been blown to bits by a blasbong. While I was off doing…"

"Doing Tess."

"We were only together once," he barely whispers.

"I'm sure she rocked your world." I swallow the bad taste in my mouth.

He snorts. " I'm only just now beginning to realize the full scope of what I've lost, because I didn't wake up sooner from the whole thing."

"So let me get this straight. Because of Tess, you don't kiss women at all?" I cringe at the inappropriate timing of this question, but Max can kiss. I'm going to cry for my entire gender if he's not bestowing this gift on someone.

"No."

Cue the tears.

"Kissing is an entirely human custom. The Nausicans do it, but they're practically human anyway."

"The flashes?"

"Left over from the Autheriens. They were the original inhabitants of Antar. We intermarried with them."

He pats the ground still in an obvious state of shock from whose origins I can't decipher. "We just went at it."

"You're upset because we're not fumbling around like a pair of teenagers?"

"Yeah, I am, because it's just one more thing they took from us. It brings into prospective that I don't really know you at all."

"Huh?"

"I know aspects of you from when I was Brian, but I don't know this side of you. I don't know where you had your first Long Island Tea. I don't what you were thinking when you got your tattoo or what possessed you to jump off that cliff in Thailand? Because those things the Liz Parker I knew would never do."

I frown.

"I'm not trying to insult you. It's just you grew up. I'm trying to piece together what I can on how you came to be who you are, since I wasn't here to see it personally."

_"I've never tried this before, but maybe I could reverse the connection. So then you could see that I'm still me." _

I can't do that. Maybe someday, I'll be able to, but today is not the day, so I offer him what I can. The beginning he asked for, and I refused him this morning.

"Hi," I hold out my hand.

Confused, he takes it.

"I'm Elizabeth Parker."

"I'm Max Evans," he answers catching on.

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Liz.. Elizabeth."

"You can call me Liz."

"No, I mean if you're going by Elizabeth," the name sounds funny coming from him. "I can do that."

"But since you knew me in my glory days, you get the special privilege of calling me Liz."

"Thanks," he looks relieved. "It sounds weird calling you Elizabeth."

"So what brings you to Mexico?"

"I have to save the world."

"Me to."

"There's another reason why I am here though."

"Really," I answer feeling stupid for the way my heart has sped up.

The ringing of his cell phone interrupts our play acting. Human Max retreats into Alien Max as he answer in his language and not my own.

I'm not like him. I need to stop this right now. "I'm going to go and wait with the others."

He doesn't hear me, or if he does, he doesn't acknowledge it.

I move to take a step away from him, but I'm stopped by the muscular arm that wraps around me.

"Two minutes," he mouths.

I spend the next two minutes studying the arm around me that doesn't appear to be letting go and wondering where the hell this is going.


	18. Fillabuster

Chapter Sixteen: Filibuster

"Two minutes my ass." I grumble scrapping my spoon against my plate while the din of several conversations play out behind me in the same guttural language I've become strangely accustomed to during the last day in a half.

A once active anticipation settles like a dead weight inside of me. No longer the product of my excitement, it finds a new purpose as the vessel for all of my doubts. Spinning my chair around from the bar, I stare as a mother levitates a piece of French toast off her plate into her toddler's waiting mouth. Clapping his chubby hands together, he opens his mouth and a string of gibberish tumbles out. My eyes snap back to the cooks behind the counter as they stuff a purple squealing creature into a pot. Once again, I question why am I even here in what Serena tells me is one of the most exclusive Antarian meeting clubs in the city surrounded by members of various diplomatic entourages.

As in answer, my hand wanders aimlessly down to the spot that not thirty minutes ago Max held me by, claimed me, I correct wondering at the peace that this thought brings, but I immediately dismiss it. He didn't claim me. He promised to talk to me, but it doesn't look like we're going to get anywhere on that agenda. I'm not that high on the King's list.

Leaning back, I can barely make out Max and Serena having conference with several entities that look strangely like Charlie the Tuna behind frosted glass. How they're going around looking like giant walking, talking fish, without arousing any attention, I don't know. It's just one more strange occurrence that knowing Max Evans has afforded me. One, I can do without. 

Dialing his number, I try to reach him again. "Pick up Brian." Pulling up my falling tank top strap, my fingers pass over an angry hickey. I'm grateful when the signal is lost delaying our inevitable conversation of ' I'm sorry I ditched your for breakfast but I'm was too busy rolling around with my ex high school alien king boyfriend.' That should go over well, I imagine. I bang my head on the wooden counter as my life seems to be slipping gradually out of my control.

"You need to learn to be patient," Seth advise beside me. His fingers clicking furiously at some sort of alien video game he's been playing. A plate lies untouched by him because macaroni and cheese and Granny Smith apples are the only things worth eating on this planet and eating Antarian food when you're not Antar is stupid.

"I am patient." 

"Then why are you tapping your fingers against the counter? It's starting to annoy me."

"I'm not tapping…oh..I guess I am." I lift my nails off the wood and go back to spinning around in my chair.

Placing his foot on the bar underneath me, he stops my spinning as well.

"Hey, I was having fun with that." I tell him rather annoyed to be interrupted in my twirling.

"Adults aren't supposed to spin around in their chairs. Everyone is looking at you." He informs me rather crisply while glancing over his shoulder at a waitress and a customer who appear to be just staring at each other. He frowns.

"Fine, you spin."

"I don't spin. I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you," he huffs. The fact that I'm getting read the riot act by a seven year for not acting my age highlights certain issues that I intend to correct.

"Spin," I order.

"Liz, my dad.."

"I'm not listening to you until you spin," I interrupt.

"I'm not spinning."

"Fine," I pull out my phone and start to dial.

"Alright," he snaps. "Just please stop calling him," he begs before pushing off the floor and twirling around once.

"Wasn't that fun?"

"Nope. Are you going to listen to me now?"

"I guess."

"My dad is a very busy person. Things come up. I'm always waiting for him," he says much softer.

I reach for a small red bottle and pour it over my eggs. Taking a bite, I realize that it isn't ketchup but Tobasco sauce and that I should be reaching for my glass of water. Only I'm not. The fork slips from my grasp before I pick it up again.

"You always need to have entertainment bag." He points to a red book bag next to him.  
"But sometimes," his eyes light up. "We have daddy and Seth time. Maybe you and daddy could do that because then if people show up, he won't talk to them. He tells them to go and talk to Michael or Isabel. I like those times, but I like it when we going flying the best. Then they really have to leave him alone, so I never take my bag then."

"I'm sorry."

"What's there to be sorry about?" he snaps. "Before my dad came home, everything was messed up. He's fixed a lot of it, and my sister is going to fix the rest. That's why she has to get born, because if she doesn't it's all going to go back to the way it was before," he tells me looking very distressed. 

"Seth, I don't understand any of this."

"I'll make you understand," he promises ominously before his hand encompasses mine.

An angry static, like a television set trapped in between stations fills my head. Losing my hearing, I turn to my sight to grapple what is happening to me, but the same void greets me. Just before a scream starts to form in my throat, an unseen artist, trained in the school of Pollack, flings several brown droplets onto the colorless palate. Swirling around, the rich color gives birth to two stick figures.

Sound soon joins with the picture. The whirling of some mechanical machine echoes from outside while the cloth ceiling over me flaps back in forth in wind, but these sounds give way to the more personal sound of a female's voice, a very bad speaking voice to be exact.

The woman paces with her back to me. "People of Autherien, I am here to enlist your help against a shared enemy that has cost both our lands so much. The history between Antarian and Autherien has been contentious… this is going to be part where Sinon interrupts me to say what does a eighteen year know about galactic politics? Why can't you do this? You've always been a much better speaker than I am," she tells a man sitting in the shadows.

"Throw the speech away, you don't need it."

"What? You've got to be kidding. It's custom to open up negotiations with a summary of intent. You and dad always have done it that way. I'm not ready to do this. I'm not a politician. I'm always flying off the handle," she sounds on the verge of tears.

He sighs before leaning into the light. 

Something jolts in me at the sight of my necklace hanging from his neck, and the familiar look of turmoil that shines in his honey eyes. Time has transformed the soft curves of his face into angular lines, but I can still see the boy in the man. "Seth," I whisper unable to take my eyes off his figure.

"You don't believe in a word you're saying," he clarifies. "Say what's in your heart."

"We need their help. Our father is dead and now you're abandoning me when practically every vulture is swirling around waiting for me to mess up. That's what's in my heart."

"I'm not abandoning you. I'm always going to have your back no matter what and you're not going to mess up." Standing up, he nearly dwarfs the woman in a hug. For minutes, they just hold each other. Her small body shakes with the force of her tears while Seth looks stoically over her shoulder. Wrinkles in his forehead are the only signs of his distress.

"Why can't you come with me to the meeting? You've always come before." She sniffs.

"I just can't. We don't need to confuse the issue as to who is in power now."

"We can do it together. We've always done everything together. I don't understand why everything is changing."

The pain only increases on his face. "Because it has to."

"You've seen something." 

He breaks their hug. "You're going to be late," his voice wavers.

"Will you be here when I get back?"

"You don't need me for this." He holds her shoulders. "Every emotion you feel, you show it. You're real. You don't need to hide behind words like me or dad did that's why they'll listen to you." 

"No, they won't. I don't have any real powers. I might as well be human."

"You have the power to move people and bring them together. They're going to believe in you. In the end, you will have the ability to exert your will on the whole galaxy, but you never use it for evil. Those are things you shouldn't hold in such low esteem."

"I rather be able to blast Talyn when he's looking down my shirt."

"What do you mean he's looking down your shirt?" he demands protectively.

"Come to the meeting and see for yourself," she counters.

"I can't," he says defeated.

"I know you're leaving," she sighs. I don't have to have your power to feel that, but just remember one thing. You have a place here. This crown is yours just as much as it is mine."

"No, it was never meant to be mine. I would have destroyed everything its supposed to represent. It's who I am even if you don't want to see it."

"Don't you ever say that. I'll never stop believing in you."

"Why?" 

"Because you're my brother," she says without missing a beat.

"You're so much like your mother." He smiles. "I was so lost and angry when I met here. I knew something was missing, but I couldn't figure it out. It was just this illusive entity until she came, and it only became clearer for me when you were born."

"What?"

"Family. I used to lie in bed between them, and she would have you on her stomach. There was this energy. It comforted me. "

"I wish I could remember what it was like."

"You and her both saved me. Without the two of you, I would be everything I fear. That's why I have to go. I have to protect you. We can never be free and have that again with our own families' until it's over."

"You're going after Tess."

A shadow darkens his face.

"I'm going with you. She has taken just as much from you as she has from me."

"Out of the question, you're the Royal Queen of Antar now. You're place is here. I have to do this on my own." 

Someone makes a sniffing noise. "Would that be plotting I smell? Four days in power, you're already breaking the rules little one going after your father's true love and your brother's mother."

Seth flinches but the woman shows no signs of discomfort.

"Sinon, this is Antarian diplomatic space which under Code A3A a non Antarian can not enter unless being formally invited, which I don't recall doing. Now I'm willing to have a open mind and consider that you and my father got off on the wrong foot, but keep this up I will be forced to settle on the conclusion that you're nothing but weak little man who is envious of Antar's place in the universe so get out." The woman turns.

I see a flash of raven hair before the scene is rudely yanked away from me I find myself back in the restaurant as Seth continues to explain the importance of his sister and how she has special abilities that make her different from any Antarian that has ever existed before. He frowns. "You're not listening to me are you?"

"What did you do?" I yank my hand away from him.

"I didn't do anything." His eyebrows arch in concern. "Do you need me to go and get my dad? I'm not supposed to go in there when he's working, but…"

I place my hands over my aching eyes. "You said you were going to make me understand about your sister. Then I…I can't remember. It's right there."

"Have you been broken to?" he asks much softer.

"I don't know what that means Seth."

He inhales sharply.

"You don't have to tell me."

"It means something very bad happened to me and now I'm stupid, wrong, and I'm not supposed to be here." He chest heaves. I wasn't here before and, and it's messing everything up."

"Come here," I croak at one more victim of Future Max and mine plan. If there's anyone that shouldn't be here, it's me. Everything would have gone as planned if Max hadn't healed me that day. "Please come here," I whisper again to Seth.

Slowly, he crawls on to my lap but makes no effort to get closer to me.

Leaning into him, I wrap my arms around him. "You're supposed to be here Seth. Your supposed to be here, because your daddy loves you. He would be so lost without you." Draping my head over his shoulder, I frown at his stony look, an expression I've seen way too many times on his father's face. It's a look that tells me that he's not listening to word that I'm saying.

Pulling a strand of his silky hair, I tuck it behind his ear.

"Dad would be very sad to if you weren't here either."

"Things would have been easier for you if he hadn't chosen to heal me."

His head snaps up. "My dad can't heal Liz. I'm the only one that could do that. If he'd been able to do something like that he would have told me. You're not very smart about my dad," he surmises before settling back down in my arms.

"I guess you're right," which is another reason I don't belong here. Moving Seth to the side, I try and dial Brian's number, but Seth yanks the phone out of my hand.

"Give it back."

"Stop calling him," he demands. "You shouldn't be calling him. You don't belong to him."

"He's my friend."

"My dad is your friend."

_"If you leave, our friendship is over." _

"No, he isn't." 

"You're a liar," he snipes right back in a way that reminds me so much of Tess that makes me want to throw up.

"I'm sorry." He grabs my shirt to keep me from pulling away from him. "I'm not like Tess." He shakes his head adamantly. "I can be good. Sometimes I don't want to be, because I can get what I want faster if I'm not, but I'm not like Tess. You have to believe that. Please Liz," he begs with so much anguish that no one so young should have to bear.

"Can you read people's thoughts?"

"No," he grumbles telling me that he is far from happy about this discussion.

"Can you read my thoughts?"

"Some of em." He presses his face against my collar bone.

Lovely.

"I'm not doing it on purpose," he adds quickly. "That's something Tess would do." 

"You're not Tess." He head shoots up from its position as he nods empathically, "but you're not your father either." 

His face falls.

"You're Seth. That means that you have things that are like Tess and, your dad in you, but the majority of it is all you and that what makes you special. You decide what's important and who you're going to be. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yes, but you're forgetting the sad lady."

"The sad lady?"

"She lives in here to," he touches his heart, "but her voice is very quite, but it's getting louder. So," he plays with the medallion around my neck. "You think I'm special?"

"I wouldn't have told you that if I didn't believe that."

He lets go. "Then why would you want to be around your friend, when you could be around me and my dad? We're more specialer than he is. We can do things. He can't." Seth says in a feigned sugar coated sweetness that he somehow pulls off very nicely that now reminds me much more of his aunt that of Tess. "You really should stop calling him."

"No." 

"No," he repeats in an obvious state of shock.

"No." 

"But…but you like me."

I lift him off my lap. My need to comfort him having evaporated rather quickly.

"You like my dad to. I know you do."

I roll my eyes.

He lays his head down in my lap. "Don't you feel it?"

"I don't feel anything Seth," I lie fighting with everything I have to stop from reaching out to cover his cheek with my hand.

His head snaps up quickly, and he angrily slides back into his chair. "I don't like liars. Bad things happen to liars. You should talk to Tess. She knows all about that." He kicks the frame of my chair. 

"Fine, I'm terrible. Tess is terrible. We're both terrible."

"I didn't say that," he answers staring at the waitress and the man who seem to be still locked in some weird alien ritual. "I have to go the bathroom," he grumbles at me sliding off his stool.

I motion for the check.

"Es gratis."

"Por que?"

"Eres la mujer del Rey." 

"No," I wave my hands. "No soy su mujer."

"Lo siento, la reina,"

"No, no soy la reina tambien." From the corner of my eye, I watch Seth run straight into the waitress knocking her hand away from the man. Nostrils flaring the man glares at Seth who casually takes his place back at my side.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"Why is it always my fault?"

"You did…" I close my mouth as a chair in front of me spins powered by two pink jelly clad feet while her long black braid whips around with her.

I close my eyes. She's not real. This is in my head. Sierra is gone. Yet, this thing with her face will not stop haunting me.

Grabbing my purse and Seth by the shoulder, I take off for a long dark corridor. We've gone several feet before Seth complains that his legs are too short to keep up with me that we really must stop now.

"What's wrong Liz?"

"I need to ask you question. I need you tell the truth."

"I always tell the truth," he pauses "unless I'm being sneaky, but I'm trying very hard not to be sneaky anymore."

"Are you mind warping me?"

"Why would I do that?" he sounds offended. "Just because I was in Tess' tummy doesn't mean I go around doing that to people. I thought you understood me, but you're just like everyone else."

I grab him by the coat before he can run away from me.

"Look, I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to think that. It's just I'm seeing things I shouldn't be seeing. I was looking for a reason."

"What are you seeing?"

"It's not important," I lie not wanting to divulge anything further. My eyes flick nervously to the picture hanging on the neighboring wall as a large lump forms in my throat. "Is that… your… It can't be?" Driven by the need to reinforce it existence, I reach to touch the swirls of paint that construct a face that eight years ago I would have been so certain that I knew of every expression that played on it. But like with anything else concerning him, I find that I was rudely mistaken. Clothed in a strange golden silk material and heavily made up, he is completely unrecognizable with his expression that speaks of ferocity and none of the softness that I used to be so certain he possessed. Whether by the artist's omission or time having not yet bestowed him its gift, his cheek lies noticeably bare of its silver marking. Strangely enough, it's absences bothers me more than anything else. 

Behind me, I hear doors open, and Max's voice speaking in yet another language that sounds nothing like Antarian.

I swallow suddenly feeling like the small time girl from Roswell is way over her head in more ways that one.

He's a seasoned politician who speaks a trillion languages, and I only speak two. Retreating into the corner, I watch Max and several creatures with large thin bodies and giant heads spill out from the room. He shakes the largest being's flipper before they both spit three times into a golden vase, which somehow seems to signal whatever discussion they've been having is over, because only then does Seth launch himself at his father.

"Where's Liz?" he asks lifting him up in his arms.

Seth buries his head in Max's neck and mumbles something .

"You know I can't hear you when you do that."

"I'm sorry daddy," he says in a rush. "She sheining again."

I lift my hands to my face. Great, I'm invisible on top of everything else.

"We were having nice talk about how she shouldn't call her friend anymore."

"She has every right to do that."

"Liz belongs to us. She is yours and mine. Why aren't you fighting for her?"

Leave it to Seth to cut right to the point of the matter of something. 

"Dad you haven't answered my question."  
_  
I never loved her.  
_  
But the answer is simple. Max isn't going to fight for something he doesn't want.

"Then don't be upset when she marries Brian," Seth tells him

"What do you mean she marries Brian?" Max asks. His voice is tight. 

"Sometimes you get her out of the water in time, you leave. She marries Brian, but then he dies."

I sink to the ground unable to breathe.

"Brian dies. How does he die?"

"Why should we care about that? We get Liz back then."

"Seth, do you know what something like that would do to Liz?"

He frowns. "I didn't think about that. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't." He tries to reassure him.

"Like me getting her out of the water."

"Yes."

Max rubs his temples. "Where is she? Can you see her?"

"My sister happens all the time though."

"That's great Seth," Max deadpans.

"But sometimes she dies. You know she's starting to get really mad that you're not helping in getting her born. She can be really scary when she wants to be." 

"I have a lot of things on my mind and getting her born isn't one of them. "

The sound of my cell phone rises briefly over their conversation. Fumbling through my purse, I fish it out.

"Where are you?" a testy Maria demands.

"Maria, this isn't a good time."

"I don't really care about whether it's a good time or not. I have bone to pick with you missy. Now where are you?"

" A kind of alien club I think. I needed some coffee but now I'm all jittery and Brian is…." 

"Who are you getting this coffee with Liz?" she interrupts.

I cringing being well versed in her philosophy about coffee getting.

"You're there with Scarface, aren't you?"

"Hey," I snap. "You've got problems with him. I get that, but you can leave that out of it. You have no idea what's he gone through."

"And you do? I bet he's all full of stories. He's just after a sympathetic shoulder to cry on." 

"No, he isn't." Why isn't he doing that?

"Liz, are you listening me?"

"You could a least try and be sensitive to what he's been through."

"Why? When he clearly has an agenda?"

"Maria," I warn.

"He didn't get to sleep with you before and now he's back to finish the job," she says with an uncustomary vehemence. "Do I have to remind you what actual coffee getting with a member of the opposite sex means? It's an act you do to make sure the guy can actually eat like a civilized person, and he doesn't drool when he talks. He checks out the size of your breasts. It's like--- "

"I know he can eat already. He knows that I'm about four sizes from having a flat chest. This is a business arrangement. I'm with his son and Serena. It's not like he's going to grab me and take me on the table in front of them."

"There's nothing business about the two of you. I'm sure that Kyle is going to have the same opinion."

"Kyle, what did you do?"

"How could I keep the good news about Max's return a secret from Kyle? I left a little message about it on his voicemail."

"Are you nuts? Kyle hates him. He'll be down here on the next plane." 

"This concerns me why?"

"Maria." I roll my eyes.

"We have to look out for your Liz. You're too forgiving. You're probably letting Max waltz right back in with stories of how he didn't know what he was doing and evil slut Tess was leading him around by his dick."

"Well, I let you waltz right back in."

"What?"

"Forget it. We just disagree about him alright. I am trying to act like an adult here and let it go"

"No, say what you were going to say?" 

"It's not important."

"Now you're running." 

"I do not run."

"Do you know what it feels like to be told by Michael that there was some little girl in Africa that you loved like a daughter, and because she died you've turned into some avenging harpy or that you used some serious alien vodoo in Vietnam and now the whole damn galaxy is after your ass because of it? I am your best friend, and you didn't even think that this was something I needed to know about. Does Kyle know?"

I don't answer.

"Of course, he does. Maybe I can get myself shot and healed, so I could join your little club."

"I am in a public place, and I'm not having this conversation with you right now." My cheeks feel like they're on fire.

"This is about Alex. You're still mad at me, aren't you? What you were doing was morbid looking through his things Liz, so I called you out on it?

"Then don't expect me to include you in the morbid happenings of my life. All you had to do was support me Maria, we could have figured it out. Instead, you sided with them. You thought my investigation was nuts. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? We have been friends since we were seven, but you ditched me for Michael. I had to literally twist your arm to get you to even entertain going to see Leanna.'

"I went didn't I and that was a lot better than Max ever did. He was too busy rolling around with Tess somewhere."

"They were only together once."

"Do you really believe that? You want to talk about being there," she chokes out. "Where were you when I was doing the yearbook spread. You get so locked up in this tunnel , and it causes you to shut everyone out when all we want to do is help you. I don't understand it Liz. You never used to be like this." 

"You've always had everything let's see how you enjoy having nothing."

I shake my head to block out the annoying voice.

"I know it's hard for you, but Alex is gone. It was an accident," she says patronizingly.

"No, it wasn't" I growl as the lights flicker overhead.

From behind him, I'm aware of his fingers prying the phone out of my hand.

"Liz is going to have to call you back Maria," Max tells her before hanging up. "You alright?"

"I thought I was invisible." I bite not appreciating his intervention.

"Sheining is a passive defense tactic. It only lasts while you feel threaten when you start to undertake offensive actions you become visible again." 

"Is Brian going to die?"

"Eventually, we're all going to die."

"That's supremely comforting." I lean up against the wall feeling too exhausted to stand up. My eyes roll open at the touch of his hand along the small of my back. 

"Have you been sleeping well lately?"

"No, I don't know what's happening to me. Maria and I never fight. She just pissed me off. She just demands things from me. Things I don't want to give," my voice quivers turning around to him.

He regards me with the same gentle countenance that I've seen painted in the face of another for so many years.

I want nothing more to bury myself in his embrace.

If he had been Brian I would have by now no questions asked, or he would have wrapped his arms around me, but there's a hesitancy that surrounds us. I feel it in the awkward way he pats my shoulder.

"I accused her of never being there when she's always there. It's just this feeling in my head that won't stop.

"What feeling?"

"That I'm alone, because I deserve to be."

The crevasses along his mouth deepen. "When did you start thinking this?"

"I don't know," I answer ducking away from him as he tries to touch my forehead. "I rather we not talk about this anymore. The whole thing just makes me feel stupid."

"We're the two of you fighting because of me?" he says softly as his fingers brush back and forth over my glove covered knuckles while I try to ignore the flutter in my tummy.

"No."

He quirks his eyebrow at me.

"A little."

"That's a bridge that's going to take some time to rebuild. I plan on doing that, but don't fight with her on my account. I don't want you to."

" She's hurt, because I don't share certain things with her. I'm trying to protect her," I pause, "or maybe I'm trying to protect myself."

" I think it's a little bit of both." 

"There's just some things I don't want to talk about. Does that make me closed off?"

"No, Isabel was after me for years to talk about what happened in prison. I used to get furious with her every time she mentioned it. I mean if I wanted to talk about it I would. What's the use of talking to people about things they have no comprehension of? I can list off every single thing Khivar did to me, but what's the point? People are always getting pissed at me for holding back when I've made it quite clear that is all they're going to get from me."

"People or women?"

His eyes find a particularly interesting spot over my head to study.

"I'm just teasing you. It's none of my business either way."

"I'm sorry." There's so much emotion in his eyes that it unnerves me.

"For what?" I whisper. "For moving on? It's not like we have a claim on each other any more. I want you to be happy. I certainly didn't do a very good job of making you feel that way."

His Adam's Apple bobs jerkily.

Suddenly, all I want to do is break into hysterical tears. I snap away from the man to lose myself in the picture to remind myself of yet again of who he is now. "You look really impressive there."

"That isn't me," he answers wrapping his arm around my waist to turn me back to him. "It's just something I do. It's not who I am. You have to understand Liz," he begs cupping my face. "There's like only a handful of people left that just see me as just a regular guy. I need you to see me that way."

"When was this done?"

He drops his hand from my face. "My coronation," he grinds out. "Look, do you want to talk about the virus or not?" He asks holding the door open for me.

I blink at his tone before looking him straight in the eye. "Just so you know, I don't know you either and starting over goes both ways."

I am rewarded with a mild flinch of concession as I pass by him.

Propping myself up on the wooden table, I wait staring at his tensed back.

He sighs before turning to me. "We fought for two in half years before we regained the capitol. I sent nearly three thousand men and women to their deaths and injured nearly five thousand more to achieve that." He swallows.

"They wouldn't have followed you if they didn't believe in you."

"Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Defend me. Kyle and Maria used to rip into me, but you never did."

"You were never supposed to hear that. They were just blowing of steam."

" What they accused me of was the truth, wasn't it? I got the Sheriff fired, and I took Michael away from Maria." He plays with the silver ring on his finger.

"Laurie Dupree got the Sheriff fired, and Michael has his own free will, doesn't he? He could have come back at any time. He choose to stay with you."

His eyes shoot up to mine. "I broke your heart."

"Why do you want to do this, when it upsets you?"

"Why do you want know about my life back home, when it upsets you?" he counters.

"I want to know you again." I say simply and somehow that's enough to cut through his arguments.

"My coronation wasn't lavish. The treasury was nearly depleted and having something overdone when the costs had been so incredibly high to achieve it didn't really appeal to me. Most of it was rituals I didn't understand, but my supporters needed it be done all the same. After it was over, I went home and read a story to my son. I'm just like anyone else."

"So do you have a crown?" 

"Liz," he snaps. "I have a crown, palaces, money, women throwing themselves at my feet so they can become my queen. Is that what you want to hear to make it all right for giving me up." 

"Fine."

"Don't go,' he pleads softly catching my wrist. A laser light show breaks out from where we touch. "I'm sorry."

"Why don't you want to talk about this."

"Because it's what cost me you in the first place. The alien part never phased you other than the first day that I told you. You would have stayed, and we could have been happy together despite it. It was the royalty part you couldn't deal with it. Politics is a strange life for someone not born into it. It's lonely and isolated." His warm fingers twine with mine sliding back and forth in between the slits.

Touching.  
Caressing.   
Joining.

Our hands playing out what we will not let our bodies do.

His head leans into mine. "It's not all bad Liz. You have the power to change things. " His voice is barely a whisper of sound that tickles my face.

I breathe in sharply as his thumb slides down my life line. Wrapping his hand around my wrist, he turns the soft underside upward and presses an agonizingly chaste kiss to my pulse point.

I'm tired of chaste.

Not acting coy about my motives, I lick my lips waiting for him to take control.

Only he doesn't. He continues to stare at me with that same infuriating confusion he wore for nearly five years before we actually kissed. He rules an entire planet, but he can't take the initiative here.

Fine.

I am Elizabeth Parker alien sex magnet extraordinaire. I give my hair a good shake. 

Alright, still no movement on his part.

Maybe, he's just not into me. Of course, he's into me. Hell, he married me once. Screw this. I bridge the gap between us only to have my confidence shatter as he pulls back. Needing a cover story, I slide off the table on to the floor. "Sorry, my heel broke." I mumble. Only I'm not wearing heals. Why am I lying anyway? I have nothing to be embarrassed about.

I pop back up. "What's your problem?"

"My problem," he crosses his arms.

"You were flirting with me…"

"I was not flirting with you," he interrupts as if I'm tiring his patience.

"Then what the hell was that hand thing you were doing?"

"It is how we say hello on Antar. I'm sorry if you misconstrued it as something else."

"No more alien things alright. I'm human girl. I like human things. I like Calla Lilies, lotion and kissing."

A blue vein stands out in relief on his forehead. "Then why don't you talk to Brian about that."

I swallow. "I plan to the next time I see him. He thinks I'm hot. I think he's hot."

"Great the two of you should be able to build quite a relationship around mindless sex," he deadpans lying down on the top of the table.

"Well according to Seth, we're getting married in Vegas."

I get barely a response from him. Instead, he turns on to his side totally uninterested in the fact.

Disgusted, I stop in front of a bookshelf and began pulling out books. Leafing through them, I see they're written in the same pictograph writing that graced Tess' Destiny Book and the cave wall. I roll my eyes wanting nothing more to be back in my own element where people actually write in a language I understand.

"Do you want to talk about the virus?"

"No, I'm busy Your Highness."

"Looking at books, you don't understand."

A red bound book slides out from the shelf and falls to the floor on its own accord. The sound of her childlike giggling follows. Quickly, I hide the book in my purse before her giggling breaks into full blown laughter.

The once non touchy Max becomes very touchy. He practically drags me from the room.

"Did you hear that?" he demands once we're in the hallway.

"I don't know what you're talking about." 

"Cut the crap Liz. Are you going to act like some teen princess because I can't kiss you?"

"Can't?" 

"Won't," he corrects.

"But you said can't." 

"You're impossible."

"At least, I'm cute." Leaning into him, I find his ear. "And my breasts fit in your hand."

He shivers as I pull away.

I smile confident in my triumph when he pulls me roughly to him. Eyes blazing, he looks like he wants to ravish me right here in the hallway for everyone to see. "Say my name," he demands.

"Let go," I pry at his fingers.

"Just say it, Liz," his command seems to have turned more into a plea. "Why can't you forgive me? I've paid for it. God, Liz I've done nothing else these last eight years."

"You haven't changed a bit. How you can you come down here expect me to immediately be able to process everything I feel about you in day when you had who knows how long to come terms with what you were feeling masquerading as Brain. Why do we always have to be on your time table?"

"Then don't get pissed at me if I'm not sticking my tongue down your throat."

"Drop dead, because you're never getting presented with an opportunity again. I must be insane to think this could ever work."

He lets go of me. A green glow has taken up residence in his eyes. "You can see yourself out Miss. Parker."

"What?"

"There is no benefit for Antar in maintaining a relationship with an individual who is unable to compromise."

"But the virus?" 

He snaps his fingers, and a man walks out of the wall. Silently, he hands me a pile of folders.

"You will find everything you need here."

"I thought that we were going to do this together." A bad taste fills my mouth.

"The virus is not my primary concern."

"It's killing people. How can that not be your primary concern? I'm sorry if I was being unreasonable. I do that sometimes. I can behave. I will behave," I promise.

"Your human quibble over giving up control to another does not concern me."

"Human quibble. When did you ever talk like that? What's wrong with you?" I try and grab his arm, but he stops me.

"I've asked you once to leave Miss. Parker," before motioning to the man.

"I need to talk to Seth."

"The boy will be told of your concern. Take care of yourself Miss. Parker."

"No, you promised. You promised me." I'm aware of the man dragging me down the corridor towards the doorway away from Max. SETH, I NEED YOU." When I don't see him appear, I start screaming for Serena.

But no one comes. I am nearly blinded by the light as the man opens the door and pushes me outside. "Autherien nutcase," he adds before slamming the door in my face.

I bang on it.

Once.   
Twice.  
Three times.

I'm not leaving until they let me back in, but the door does not spring open with Max behind it. 

"Fine, this is for the best. I didn't like it in there anyway."

I take one more look at the building, and the small contorted face pressed up against a two story window. A red glow emanates from where he touches the glass.

Red spirals snake down my skin in response. Unable to look at him at him further, I turn away. With each step, the throb just below my breasts only intensifies. I feel like I've been shot all over again. Only Max Evans isn't here to heal me this time around.

I'm three blocks away when I feel her hand wrap around mine.

I give her ghost or whatever she is a forced smile.

That's when I notice the tear tracks.


	19. In Walks the Meaglan

In Walks the Meaglan

Large droplets fall as I cross the secluded Santa Maria runway and make my way to the small outcropping of buildings that surround it. While the others run, I leisurely stroll over the drowning concrete. I stop to watch a red beetle spinning its feet wildly trying to escape the death that awaits it in a puddle. Bending down, I scoop it up into my hand. It doesn't move.

Soaked hair sticks to the side of my face. Liquid slides down the small of my back in a steady caress. A touch meant to bring warmth but only brings cold, because any scientist worth their salt knows that heat only comes through the exertion of energy. It is the breakdown of a weaker force by a stronger one.

Two yellow bolts chase each other across the black sky.

I cover my ears as the low rumble echoes in its wake. My heart hammers against my chest.

"_You don't know how many times I've dreamed about blotting you out completely. You will be nothing, but a footnote when I'm done with you. I'm tired of living in your shadow."_

An intense throbbing begins in my head. Wet fingers touch my stomach as they turn me around.

"_Pain compromises a major component of a body's alarm system. This applies to mental just as much as physical. The key is to always listen and not to push Liz passed this threshold and to make sure that you're there once she starts to explore this issue further. Failure could result in a disastrous side effect." _

"_Define disastrous side effects?" _

"_Another broken child but only this one will not be nearly as well mannered as the last. It will have to be eliminated of course." _

"_There has to be another way." _

"_This child has the power to damn Seth if she so chooses. In the end, she will be a product of the frame of mind her mother chooses to exist in.." _

"_Why are you looking at me like I have in impact in any of this?"_

"Liz."

"Flash." It's all I get out before an inky, sleepy feeling settles over me. Dazed, I look up at the rain coat he's holding over our heads. "It's raining."

He coughs. "That it is Parker. Why don't we go inside?"

"Okay."

"We have to get rid of your friend first."

"What?"

He points to the beetle.

"It was drowning."

"I'm going to put it down over here in the grass." It's red body disappears into the green grass.

I let Brian guide me into the small radar station.

"Sit, I'm going to get you some coffee."

"No , it makes me nervous."

"You need something warm to drink. You're freezing." He rubs my goose flesh covered arms.

"Alright."

Turning towards the window, I watch the chaotic scene unfold outside.

The bitter smell of nicotine takes up residence beside me. From the corner of my eye, I watch Mani nervously puff on his cigarette. "So what do your witch's powers tell you about this Isabella?"

"What did I tell you about calling me that?" The tip of his cigarette flares a bright orange before returning back to its more sedated color.

"It won't stop raining."

"We're in a tropical rainforest."

"In Mexico City, they've gotten more rain in the last couple of hours than they've gotten in nearly a two years. The city is flooding. Something isn't right. I can feel it. My wife even told me to be careful. She never does that. Then we have that one with us. " He casts a sideways glance to Lena Cruz sitting quite contently alone in the corner reading a book. "We don't need her kind here. She's probably one of those leftist rebels who wants to bring the government down. Brian says she's some kind of leader in her field. You tell me how an Indian could get that far."

"So not only are you're sexist, you're a racist now to."

"I'm talking about the particulars. With what money did, did she finance an Oxford education."

"She went to Oxford? How did you find that out?"

"Looked her up on the internet," he shrugs. "She did her undergraduate at the University of Chicago."

"I don't know maybe she like the rest of us with student loans up to here."

"Or she's a sleeper agent."

"Planted to help facilitate a global epidemic that could potentially wipe every man, woman and child from the face of the Earth." I frown.

"I was just kidding. I'm not a sexist." He says in after thought. "I like you. You're a woman."

"Do you remember the first thing you asked when we met?"

"I was a perfect gentleman."

"You wanted to know what kind of man my husband was for letting me work."

"Well, you should be married and at least have a child by now."

"Ha, have a child that he could just cut me off from when he wants to? How dare he do that to me? Does he have any idea what that felt like? What it feels like? I have nothing. I am nothing. At least, he can do is share him with me. I don't think that's asking too much." The lights overhead blink once. I get the hint and shut my mouth. "Excuse me, I need to get some fresh air." I tell a confused Mani.

An arm captures me by the waist. "Okay, I get you like the rain because it wasn't something you saw a lot of in New Mexico, but could you do me a favor and stay inside. I promise to keep Mani away from you." Brian slips a cup of steaming liquid into my hands. "They don't have coffee. It's like it though Lena says."

I take a sip, and warmth breathes it way back into my cold body. "It's good. I like it."

"I thought it was too bitter."

"So you're telling me this now."

"It's not something you preface the tasting with Parker."

I lean back into his hard chest and stare up at him strangely content except for the sick part inside of me that is calling for another. I will ignore it. I am ignoring it. "I'm sorry about breakfast this morning."

"You've already said that."

"I'm still sorry."

"What do you think of Lena?" He ask changing the subject rather abruptly.

I let it slide knowing his hatred of confrontation and regard the woman curled up with her book. "I don't think she likes me."

"She doesn't like anyone. That's what fascinates me about her."

"Mani hates everyone to, and you've never said anything about him being fascinating. "

"Mani hates everyone because, he's a snob, but with Lena, there's something definitely there."

"Yeah, she's pretty." I cross my arms in front of my chest.

"You're prettier. Just hear me out Parker. We all come into this world as innocent little trusting babes until something happens that forces us to hide all of that away. Suddenly, it's not about showing the world who you are but being who the world wants you to be. It's the only way you are fully protected from getting caught with your pants down again. It's happened to her, and it has happened to you."

I stare down at my wet shoes. "I thought we were talking about Lena."

"Now, we're talking about you. I thought that was a brilliant segue. "His liquid blue eyes narrow.

"Your father would be proud."

He covers his heart in mock agony. "Now, you're hitting below the belt."

I thread my hand through his much large one. "I'm going to tell you. You need to know. I just can't do it here." I stare over his shoulder at Mani and Lena.

"So we need to ditch the children to have a little alone time? I'll see what I can do?" he winks.

"God," I drop down on to my knees in front of him.

"If that's what you have in mind, we really need to get with the ditching immediately." He grins.

I swat his legs. "You're bleeding, you pig." Rummaging through my purse, I pull out some napkins.

"Damn it," he mutters. "My stitches must have come undone."

I start hitching up his pant legs. "Why do have stitches?"

"I nearly got ran over in Guatemala City. I stepped out into traffic. I wasn't looking."

"Ran over?" I repeat.

"Car came out of nowhere, and we kind of collided."

"Kind of collided," I breathe. "Did you see the driver?"

"It all happened rather quickly. I'm perfectly fine. I didn't even feel it when I hit the ground. The doctors say it was just a miracle that my knee got busted up."

I grab his hand looking for an isolated place. "We need to talk. We need to talk right now. I can't believe I was so stupid. How could not telling you be helpful? I was scared. I didn't know how you would react. I…"

The glass doors open as the baggage carriers deposit our stuff onto the floor. My eyes drift to my bag and to the files inside of them, but it's the tall older man that sweeps in behind the bags that becomes my new focus. Throwing back his rain soaked hood, his steel colored eyes tell me all I need to know about his identity. Father and son seem to have shared that one attribute, but it's the other possible commonalities that twist my insides up into knots. If Pierce knows about me, he can take me anytime he wants. There's no one here to stop him.

Behind me, I feel Brian's arm tighten.

"Mr. Erickson and Miss. Parker I presume. You are definitely a hard woman to get in touch with always in motion."

"I don't like staying in one place for too long."

"Which poses the question as to what you're running from? " Taking a white handkerchief out of his coat pocket, he proceeds to dry the lens of his wired rimmed glasses. "Still smoking Mr. Sanchez, I see."

Mani takes a puff in response.

"I see there's been a new addition to our party. Daniel Pierce," he holds out his fish belly white hand to Lena.

"Lena Cruz," she answers before going back to her book.

"I was under the impression that the Minster of Health had requested you stay in the capital Pierce. What did you do? Charter your own plane down here?"

"I'm barely off the plane and already with the questions Mr. Erickson. Tic tac, I just love peppermint." he shoves the clear bottle in my direction.

I shake my head.

"In answer to your question, the Minster of Health thought someone with my expertise would be greatly needed after I better acquainted him with the situation."

"What situation would that be?" Brian continues.

"Here, I would think that Miss. Parker would have bothered to tell you considering she spent nearly the whole morning with the terrorist in question. What was his name again? I'm afraid in my old age things seem to slip my mind. Oh yes, Max Evans. A native son depending on your point of view that has turned against us all." He leans forward to Brian. "But here is not such a place to speak of such things. I can see that our transportation has arrived. Shall we?"

Like some fury confident in his work, he picks up his black attaché case and sweeps back out through the door.

Face frowning Brian turns to me. "Was any of that true? Were you with him this morning?"

"Yes, but it isn't what you think. I was going to tell you. I was just scared. Please, I need your help. Things are really out of control. I don't.." I stop as he backs away from me.

"I need to," he scratches his head " to think," he picks up his bag and follows Pierce.

"Okay," I press my lips together. "Okay," I tell myself again slinging my bag over my shoulder.

"So let me get this straight Max Evans is back?" Mani ask coming up beside me. "He's spreading the virus."

"He's back, and he has nothing to do with the virus. Mani give me one of your cigarettes."

"No."

"Yes," I snap.

"Smoking is bad Isabella."

"You smoke."

"Yes, but it's not a nice habit you need to take up. Right Lena?"

Lena nods her head before slipping out the doors.

"Does the woman ever talk? We should get her drunk. She's probably one of those types. Get a little Vodka into her, and she won't shut up."

"We're not getting her drunk." I tell him.

"Then she could tell us about the track marks on her arms."

"What do you mean she has track marks?"

"Apparently, our little Lena likes to take her drugs syringe style."

"You're making that up."

"Saw it with my own eyes." Mani clears his throat.

"You need some water?"

"I got something in my throat. I think." He coughs a wheezing smoker's cough.

I smack him on the back. "Better?"

"He really needs to quit the taste alone is going to kill me."

I back up. "Alright who the hell are you? If you're who I think you are that you can go to hell your pompous arrogant bastard and where's Seth because I have a right to talk to him. And…."

He hold up a hand to stop me. "Not him Liz."

"Larek?"

"Yes."

"That's what you meant about being shut out of your regular vessel. You've used Mani."

"Yes."

"So do I need to give everyone who gets to know me that the general warning that you may at various times be taken over by various aliens that want to…" I pause. "What are all of you doing watching me anyway?"

He starts to pick up my things and Mani's. "I'm going to have to give you the short story for now. I won't be able to keep this body for long. Things are in motion back home."

"Then why are you here?"

"Seth sent me."

"He did?"

"You sound surprised."

"He's a child. They have very short attention spans. I just figured he would be on to the newest thing."

"Then you really don't understand Seth. He's very focused in getting you back."

"I had to leave. There was nothing I could do."

"I am sure he will be giving his father hell for it when he returns."

"Returns?"

" Max didn't really have you escorted out. Zan takes control from time to time when he feels threatened. Miranda believes it's a way Max used to burry his personality during the mind rapes."

"Sort of like a split personality?"

"In a way."

"A split personality he had to revert to because he's afraid of me."

"No, more like the topic you were discussing he found to be displeasing."

My cheeks flush. "I was telling him we were never going... to.. you know" I add feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed about discussing the subject with Larek.

"Never going to what?"

"Have intimate relations."

His face wrinkles. "I don't think I understand."

"Sex," I say exacerbated." I feel like I'm talking to my dad."

"Then you have just paid me an extremely high compliment." He bows his head and mutters what sounds to be some kind of prayer before returning to our conversation. "Now, if only this thing could be made to go away." He presses his hand on to my forehead.

"I forgot about that. Ouch."

"Sorry, it's not safe for you to be sporting that down here."

"No one's said anything about it."

"Humans can't see it. Our kind can."

"What is it showing?"

"It means different things to different people. To me, I see evidence that you were attacked by a scion. He attempted to extract your energy."

"Seth said something about me being novelty or something to them."

"He must feel the pull then. Does he ask permission before he connects to you?"

"Yes."

"Good, your energy is very chaotic. All meaglans are. They are created out of chaos so connecting to you could be very dangerous endeavor if there is not a hundred percent trust on both parties' part. Yet, it's that danger that will entice every one of us you meet. There is a halo of gold that surrounds you Liz. It's your thelius. I wish you could see it. It's breathtaking. But like with anything else, different people want different things from it."

"What do you want?"

"To admire it, for the work of art that it is. I am old, and the whispers of power that it offers does nothing for me. It will not bring back my wife, my son, or heal my estrangement with my daughter. Since I know you, it's very easy for me to shut it out, but the true danger comes from the those who listen to these whisperings and deem both you and Seth to be figures for annihilation."

"How is Seth connected to this?"

"I don't know. The two of you have always been grouped together by everyone for as long as I can remember. It's why I don't think you're Max or Khivar's meaglan. I think you're Seth's. Somehow I think you might even be his m…"

The car honks.

"His what?"

"His what what Isabella?"

"Nothing." I repress the urge to scream in frustration. "Come on."

"Do me a favor."

"What?"

"Please don't ever leave me alone with the scary gringo. He reminds me of my grandfather. Bastard used to beat me with a belt."

"You've got to be kidding."

"He was from the old school. I was kind of bad. I liked to steal the hubcaps from people's cars."

"That's not being bad. That's being a boy."

"I would catch things on fire."

"Boy again," I answer stepping out in the rain.

"I got in fights."

"Boy." I pause to take a mental note of who is where in the van before sliding in.

"So you're saying that every stupid thing I ever did was because I was boy."

"That would be the jest of it," I grin, but it fades quickly with Brian's uncustomary silence.

"What do you think boss?" Mani ventures.

"Whatever Parker said," he gestures before going back to his study of the world outside his window while Lena continues on her merry little way with whatever book she is reading.

I tuck a strand behind my hair and catch Pierce's eagle like gaze on me. A satisfied smirk plays on his lips. I know if Max was here he would be telling me to lie low, and Seth would be reminding me the importance of being good. However, I'm up for neither at the moment. "Tell me Pierce? How was Danny Jr. in the discipline department? I imagine he was a handful. Did you ever cure him of his need to cut up other living things? According to Dr. Phil that's one of the first signs of a serial killer?"

The smirk moves south to be replaced by a non descript facial expression that I find to be extremely intimidating.

Note to Self: Impulse control is a must when dealing with the fathers of psychopathic bad guys.

Mani leans over to whisper in my ear. "Maybe, I shouldn't leave you alone with him."

"That would probably be a good idea," I nod reaching for the bulging Marlboro box peeking out of his shirt pocket.

He slaps my hands away. "I said no."

I pout.

"I'm starting to see what kind of girl you were always going after things you were told you weren't supposed to have."

"No, that would be Tess."

In front of me, Lena's head snaps up from her book.

This time I wisely keep my mouth closed and observe the little bookworm for the duration of our journey.


	20. Still

Chapter Eighteen: Still

My eyes snap open and fix on the windshield wipers as they beat furiously against the rain. Their high-pitched wine forms a rhythmic pattern that almost covers the sounds of the tires tumbling over the uneven road and the low, deep roll of thunder pounding across the night sky.

I bite down hard on my bottom lip as another rumble crashes above us. My attention shoots in front of me to Brian's rigid figure expecting him to reach for my hand like he's done so many times before. Fingers intertwined, he would squeeze my hand gently and say something along the lines of 'I'm here Liz. It's okay,' and that would be enough to ease the unbearable pressure building in my lungs and the cold sweat trickling down the back of my neck.

I never had to ask or admit that I was scared.

Another burst of energy sounds from above.

Turning a page of the report, Brian shows no sign of acknowledging my distress.

Why isn't he helping me?

He maybe angry with me, but he's not a cruel person by nature.

Renewed clatter sends my flying attention to the window, and the reflection of two icy blue eyes.

Rearing back, I smack into Mani's flabby stomach. The press of my body barely rouses him from his snoring.

I take a deep breath to try and slow my rapidly beating heart.

"Thunder always scared me to as a child," the bookworm says over the seat sans her book. "It's estimated to be the fifth most popular phobia."

I resist the urge at pulling both of her long black braids and telling her to mind her own business.

while the melodic sound of Lena Cruz's voice rouses Brian from his reading. "Parker isn't afraid of anything. She's fearless," he offers before returning to his work.

"No, I'm not." I sink back into the van's seat and press my hand to my eyes giving anything to erase this sudden new insight, but the harsh truth of it is still there when we pass through the army checkpoint. As the rain gives way to a sticky a heat, the unformed idea has worked its way into a concrete fact. Brian Erickson doesn't know me at all, because Max Evans never gave him the opportunity to. Yet, a more alarming theory soon replaces this one. Maybe Brian doesn't know me, because I never needed him to.

Angrily, I fish out a piece of gum in an attempt to stop where my thoughts seem to be heading. Needs like anything else can be adjusted and fine-tuned. Species survive through the shedding away of frivolous behavior. Survival is the key. I must survive. There's no way I can do that if I allow myself to need Max Evans.

_I never loved her. _

But I still love you. I still need you.

I close my eyes and keep them close as the van starts to work its way up into the rainforests. During this time, I allow the fantasy to bloom within me. The sweet scent of passion and love swirl in and out of nights of lovemaking and days of me doting over his son. In return, I feel my loneliness fade away as a family starts to take shape for me for the very first time in years. The life I imagine seems so real and tangible until I remember. My eyes open as the car stops. "I'm not one of them," I whisper. "I'll never be one of them. They'll never belong to me."

"Did you say something Isabella?"

"No," I force a strained smile at Mani.

Sliding out of the van, I stretch my cramped legs and get my first look at the city of Villa Flores. Red shingled roofs and white wall homes stand guard against a hungry green mouth of trees waiting to engulf them.

Stooping down, I pick up a large flat shaped leaf from the dusty ground before dropping it again. The resemblance is too much and I am not content until I've reduced the leaf into several shreds underneath my shoe.

"We might want to get going Liz. Rogelio should be starting the briefing soon. It would probably be best to get a local prospective on everything. "

My eyes snap up from current act of retribution. "Lena," I squeak. Blood rushes into my cheeks as I realize the others have already gone inside. She has been watching me from her perch on top of the stairs for who knows how long. "You must think I'm insane."

"Insanity takes many forms," comes her illusive answer as she pulls her headphones out from her ears and stuffs her Ipod back into her satchel.

"There's a good explanation for all of this." I say waiting for the follow up question of what, which never comes. Instead, she looks moodily east at a ray of light coming from a high point overlooking the city.

I flip up my sunglasses for a better look until the excruciating pain in my eye sockets reminds me why that isn't such a good idea. "What's causing that?"

"Candles." She clasps at some object hanging beneath her shirt. Something raw and potent shines in her very black eyes, which causes me to debate whether to continue this conversation.

However, the scientist quickly triumphs over my qualms. "Why are there candles?"

"You do ask a lot of questions, don't you?" She comments in what can be construed as either in a teasing or critical nature. I go for the latter.

"Have I done something to offend you?"

"Not today no."

"What..what are you doing?" I stutter as her arm wraps around mine, and she yanks me up the stairs.

"Being static is not a decision," she tells me before looking over her shoulder. I follow her gaze to an older man who appears to be leering at us. He licks his lips, and his familiar stone colored eyes narrow in on me as a cold presence opens up in my mind.

"How did he find me?"

"_Because you're mine Liz, You've chosen me." _

An unwanted energy roams down my skin and finds its way underneath my shirt. I brush at my stomach as Lena leads me passed the glass doors, but the space does nothing to eliminate the persistent voice in my head. "Make him stop please."

"_I know what you did. You think Max could get ever support you after something like that. He's always been so by the book. It's strange how both his women have to go off their kilter from time to time. Tell me, what was better the thrill of the kill or smelling their fear as they begged for their lives?"_

"That's not how it happened. They were going to hurt me."

"_Really," he drawls. "Here, I was under the impression that you didn't remember how it happened. The human mind is such an interesting thing on how it can cut and weave together entire stories that it finds much more pleasing than actual truths." _

"Leave me alone."

"_Walk away from the prey when I'm so close to the kill. Here, I would have thought that the boy king would have exerted just a little more energy to protect the love of his life. It's kind of disappointing considering all that has been made of you back home, but I guess he never loved you." _

"He never loved me."

"_But don't worry my sweet. I'll make up for it, because when the time is right I'll keep on loving you to the very end."_

I gasp at the unmistakable press of his lips against me. The accompanying heat they trigger makes me nauseous. My hands meet only air as they try to fight him off. "I don't want you. I don't want you."

"_Oh, but you will Elizabeth. I don't expect us to be successful on the first try dear. It might take many tries not that I'll be complaining." _

"What are you talking about?"

"_A child to end all children, a child you will be giving me. See for yourself."_

Through fire and destruction, I see her face start to take shape. With a cruel mouth and two deadened eyes to match, her lust for power knows no limits. She takes and takes because it's her right. One night, she takes my necklace from a dying young man who had refused to join her.

"I'm glad your mother never lived to see what you've become," he coughs.

For a moment, she feels strange but can't put her finger on the exact emotion for she has never entertained guilt long enough to be able to identify it by name. "My mother would be proud of me. I am taking control and doing what other didn't have the compunction to do themselves. You were supposed to be my ally. We were supposed to do this together."

"Maybe in another lifetimes, maybe if my father had gotten to the two of you in time."

"DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR FATHER." In her anger, she plunges a knife into his side.

The barrages of images send me crashing to the ground. Underneath my burning palms, the bright colors of a giant Mayan calendar swirl, but something has been inserted into this version. Tucked away to the left of the sky god's face, five points form the unmistakable symbol of the Whirl Wind Galaxy.

"_You see the little spitfire our little girl is going to be." _

My hands on their own accord reach out for the middle star in the Whirl Wind Galaxy almost immediately Khivar's disgusting presence shrinks away.

I'm aware of someone trying to lift me up, but I resist. "No, Antar keeps him out of my head. I don't want to see anymore. She's a monster."

"You're making a scene Liz," Lena warns in perfect English as she pulls me up from the floor. "It's just food poisoning." She continues on in Spanish to a crowd beginning to form around us. "You know Americans, and their weak stomachs. I told you not eat that salad." She says loudly before pushing me into the bathroom.

I close my eyes against the bright lights as I hear her turn on the tap. Seconds later, she presses a damp towel to my forehead.

"Who are you?"

"And here I already thought I had introduced myself."

"You are one of them, aren't you?"

"What would you mean by one of 'them' Liz?"

"I'm not in the mood to play games."

"Good because neither am I. The people out there are scared. Scared people aren't usually your most rational. One more little display like you did outside, they will lock you up so fast."

"How would I have contracted the virus, since I just got here?"

"When fear is involved people don't ask how or why, it all about when can the object be eliminated."

"Well, aren't you just full of sweetness and light?"

" I really do not have time for your sarcasm. The briefing should be beginning shortly. It would not be prudent to miss it," she advises before I hear the door slam behind her.

"Thanks for all of your help alien bitch," I mumble before pulling myself up. I feel around on the wall for the lights and flick them off. Opening my eyes, the room is pitch black. I don't bother to think about why I can function without any difficulty in this environment. Instead, I wet another towel but notice the goose bumps starting to rise along my skin.

"HELP ME MOMMY, SHE'S TAKING MY BREATHS AWAY," a young girl's voice cries behind me.

I drop the towel and spin around to the empty wall.

"WHO ARE YOU?" I demand, but the only answer I receive is a gasping sound, which I am unable to tell if it comes from me or her. "Okay, you have to go to this meeting, so let's forget about alien kings and murderous offspring. Shit," I drop my bag as it begins to buzz.

Fishing out my cell, I answer it. "Liz Parker."

"You alright?" Max asks softly from the other end.

"No," I answer sinking down the wall. "No, I'm not alright."

"Would you like to talk about it?" he asks hesitantly. "I mean you don't have to if you don't want to. I mean.."

"Yes," I interrupt.

"There's a small café across from the hospital."

"I saw it when we came in."

"I'll be there in forty five minutes."

"You're coming here. I thought you didn't care that you weren't going to help me."

"What Zan feels and what I feel aren't necessarily the same thing. I'm sorry to confuse you like that. My head and everything isn't… I'll see you soon," he rushes as if he can't get off the phone fast enough.

"No, wait Pierce's father is here. The special unit could still be active. He could have guys with guns…"

" I can handle the guys with guns Liz."

Suddenly, I feel very stupid. "You're not sixteen anymore. I keep forgetting everything has changed."

"I guess it has." His voice is barely perceptible as I wipe away the tear from my cheek.

"So, I'll see you."

"Okay, take care." I smile sadly. "You know there's one thing that hasn't changed." I hitch. "Are you still there? Guess not."

"No, I'm still here Liz."

"That's precisely what hasn't changed."


	21. Conversations With Medea

Chapter Twenty One: Conversations with Medea

The rain turns torrential as the monster's paws touch down in the mud. Raindrops slide down its approaching feline body. Two eyes stained with an unmistakable taint of callousness set adrift in icy blue size me up before a red glow start to turn the straight hair along the head into yellow curls.

Eyes glued on her transformation, I struggle against the iron grip holding me here. My arms are pinned strategically behind my back while a steady pressure makes movement in my legs impossible. I move my neck slightly to catch a flash of a man's shoulder. Pain fans out almost immediately.

Her laugh rings out in response. For me, the noise sounds very much like nails scrapping over a chalkboard.

The wind picks up around us as I find myself back in Tess Harding's presence. Her curly hair is tied loosely in a ponytail. To my mild disappointment, time has not altered the curve of her waist and breasts leaving her much the same genetically engineered Barbie doll that first set foot in Roswell. Having gained the ability to walk upright, she looks every bit the human that I trusted to keep him safe. I know better now.

Throwing her head back, she opens her mouth to the falling water while I contemplate the possible fatality of the rain's acidity.

"Rain is like lifeblood to people like us." She answers still staring up at the droplets. "We will forever crave it."

"Why?" I bite down on my bottom lip and frown.

"Water is the great equalizer. It grounds what is not centered and neither of us has been that for a long time."

"Stop insinuating we have anything in common."

Her hand shoots out and takes hold of my neck before lifting me up off the ground. "We have Max in common."

My feet dangle helplessly. I can't breathe. My nails sink into the skin of her hands.

"Let her go Tess," a voice orders behind me.

I fall unceremoniously to the ground. Coughing, I scoot back. My heart freezes as I finally glimpse who is with her. Darkness has settled over the face that housed such gentleness and wisdom the night our relationship began. Traits he still wore in the moment it terminated.

"_Why are fighting so hard for something that isn't even real? You don't love me Liz." _

"_How could you say that to me?"_

"_Because you don't, you can't. I'm not him." _

"_Don't do this please." _

"_I can't ever be Max." _

"_I don't want him." _

"_But you don't want me either here lies our problem. It's only natural we would have sought each other since, we were the only two people in town that would glow from time to time and suffered from alien jump your bones month, but I need more now than just being with someone who…" _

"_Is like you."_

"I'm not what you're looking for and maybe Max wasn't either, but you owe it to yourself not to settle for what it is safe. Please don't cry. You're going to be okay. You just don't need me no matter how much I wish you did."

"You were with her. You…cared for her." Tess sputters out.

In the human brain, there is nothing more complex than perception. It revolves around hundreds of different stimuli barraging the brain simultaneously. While neurological processes strive for accuracy, information does get lost in recall from the name of your new neighbor to the exact time your family's restaurant turned to rubble, but there are moments when the brain operates beyond its primordial construction.

Perfectly normal occurrences when you can sense someone reaching out to grab you again even though your back is turned. There are detailed scientific accounts of precognition in the face of a threat that can perfectly describe why you are able to throw her off by grasping on to her arm and pulling it hard while giving special care to placing the most pressure to designated points along her arm.

Yet, there is no explanation to explain away why a sometimes human girl from Roswell, New Mexico flips the sometimes Queen of Antar onto her back into the mud or the reappearance of the silver glove shimmering with red sparks on my left hand.

But when it comes to explaining my anger at the woman at my feet, I have no trouble because that is the only thing that seems real in this moment of impossibility. "Leave me the hell alone," I tell her.

"Liz."

"Stay out of this Kyle. What is it with you and every other man? What makes her so special that you would completely turn your back on Hannah for a woman whose son is even scared to death of her?"

Taking my opportunity to vent costs me, because I quickly find myself hurling through the air until the trunk of a tree stops me.

There is little time to process my injuries as her small but strong hands haul me up. "You don't know a damned thing about Zan and me."

"His name is Seth."

"For the moment. Children have never been an interest of mine but men on the other hand."

"Leave him alone," I warn recalling Seth's prediction.

"Or you'll do what? Face it. You're forever going to be the damsel in distress." She looks out into the clearing. "But it doesn't appear you have any knights lining up to rescue you. To give this to a human and a weak one at that," her hand clasps my necklace but just as quickly lets go. Shaking it as if she has been burned, she stares hard at me. "Tell me Liz, how is mommy and daddy? Was there enough of them left to bury after I was done with them?"

A bolt of lightening explodes overhead.

She leans closer to me. "But I would have to say that my crowning achievement was bringing that over priced exercise in bad taste down to its foundation." Claw like fingers grab my scarred stomach, "and witnessing my son remove any trace of his father in you from the record."

I flinch.

"Tsk, Tsk am I sensing a little doubt on your end about Zan? It's good to know how far you'll pull an Angelina with my child."

Without warning from my powers, her fist collides into my stomach. I sink to the ground too much is happening and not happening right now.

"Whenever you're thinking about taking something again that does not belong to you, I want you to look at the rotten, mangled flesh my son left you with. The son I gave Max."

Leaves sway overhead, but this time I choose not to ignore the memory the action brings forth giving full reign to the terrifying part that lives inside of me. The tingle signaling a birth of a blast starts in my hands.

"Max and I well always have a history together now and you will forever be a footnote."

The power builds as Tess rambles on about the special night they shared in the observatory. She never sees the massive blast that knocks her on her ass. Off guard, she has no defense when I slam her head into the trunk.

Standing there, I admire the blood dripping down from her nose with satisfaction.

The tell tale bulges begin in my palms.

"I was wondering when the real you would show up. I have no use for sniveling and unresponsive prey. You should have seen your face when I blew your father brains out all over you."

I send a shock up her leg and watch as her body convulses. Something akin to pleasure surges to live inside.

Her body vanishes from my sight, the product of an obvious mind warp.

I whip around. Grabbing at the air, I am surprised when the warm skin of her arm becomes encaged in my grasp.

Her eyes widen.

A flick of her wrist sends me flying once again out into the clearing.

I land on my back with Kyle leaning over me, and the way my luck seems to be going I expect him to commence whaling on me shortly. Dragging my body up, he pushes me up against the wall.

"Is Maria okay?" He whispers. Dark lines circle underneath his eyes.

"Yes."

"She says she killed my parents. Is that true?" I glance out into the forest expecting any second to see her charging out from the deep green pit.

"Yes."

I'm going to kill her.

Something utterly alien blossoms inside of me. Dark and unruly, it serves as a potential door that once opened can never be closed again. A choice I ran from in Vietnam. I'm not running again. I am who I am:

Warts, scars, and all

"Look at me," Kyle yanks me hard. "You're not going down that path."

"You're not in a position to tell me what to do anymore. I'd prefer it if you would stay out of my head. I am not one of your criminals Kyle."

"Not yet. There's this energy around you. It's beautiful. You give, and you help. You're a healer."

"I'm not a healer."

"I'm not talking about the king dickweed. You've devoted so much of your life to seeing it flourish."

"Now, I'm looking for a career change."

"Do that and not only do you dishonor everything your parents ever taught you, you will screw yourself over and the world to while you're at it."

I roll my eyes. "You going to tell me its my job to save the world. I already did that. The world needs to get itself another girl."

The ground begins to shake underneath us.

"Stop it Liz."

"Why Kyle?"

"This isn't who you are, and it's exactly what they want. What do you think she's doing in there? Reporting back to Khivar, giving him a catalogue of your powers and how to provoke you into acts of aggression. If you're one of them, you're much easier to control than if you're one of us. You'll be more likely to be seduced by what Khivar has to offer."

"Kyle, you're not making any sense."

'There's just so much at stake." One of his hand travels to my temple followed by the other.

My pulse kicks up several notches at the gesture. "What are you doing?" I am unable to move from his grasp.

Warmth curls across my forehead. Seductively, it presses up against my skin with soft whispered promises I crave, but every time I reach for them they are pulled masterfully out of my grasp.

"Are you in?" The bitch reappears at her side. "Khivar said she's too strong to take this way. He couldn't make any headway with her at Serena's."

"Khivar doesn't understand her like I do. Power doesn't appeal to her nor does wealth."

"Then what does?"

"Family and friends, she's lonely."

Tess snorts. "She always was a weakling."

"She has a heart unlike you."

Tess' face collapses. "I have a heart Kyle." She says much softer.

"If you had a heart, you wouldn't be holding the woman I love hostage."

"You can't love Hannah."

"Why?" He demands harshly. "You think my world just stopped when you blasted off Earth pregnant with someone else's kid."

Her eyes blink rapidly as if trying to stop tears from falling, but I quickly reject the scenario due to the fact that I'm being held up against the wall while Kyle is doing something funky in my head.

He turns to her. "Are you happy Tess? All your plotting got you exactly what you wanted."

"I am more to you than that."

"No, my thoughts clearly put you in the sisterly category. I'm not itching for a reenactment of Flowers in the Attic."

"But…"

"Do you want me to get into Liz's head or not?"

"This is all your fault bitch." Her hand flies to my stomach again, but Kyle stops her.

"Back off," he warns. "Go over there until I'm done."

"Fine," she snarls. "You've got five minutes then we're doing it my way."

"Why can't things just be simple like they used to be? We live our whole lives in these molds cut by chance whether it is cruel or prosperous. Never once do we let the marrow of our true selves out for fear that others will come by and lap it all away." He slides a revolver out from his holster. "Our fellow alien friends are the worst about doing that. Khivar, Tess, and Nicholas, they run around plotting and scheming and they never understand why the end result leaves them hollow."

"I've been invited to join their little club. Khivar thinks I can succeed where he's failed with you. He doesn't get it. Loyalty and love, they're foreign concepts to them. Yet, they crave to be surrounded by it." He cocks the pistol.

"Keep in mind that no matter how bad it looks, I will be okay. You will be to. You keep telling this to yourself even when things look to be at their worse. Tess isn't going to let anything happen to me, and I plan to be around for a long time. You have to run now and not stop until you're with someone that you can be safe with. Choose wisely because the whole galaxy will screw you over if given the chance, I refuse to be one of them. You're going to run now and no longer feel concern for me." His voice commands taking on the familiar quality of a suggestion.

I'm three feet away from him when I hear the gunshot and Tess' scream merge into one ungodly sound.

Try as I might, I can't stop nor turn around. I keep running past the café and plow through the brown stream that used to be the street.

Lightening illuminates the sky followed by a burst of thunder so intense that it rattles my very insides.

I make it to the hospital. Muddying up the white floors in the process of getting to our designated lab room, Lena is scribbling formulas on the whiteboard and humming to a Fugees' song on her IPOD.

"I see you neglected to follow my suggestion about coming to the conference meeting." She snipes with her back turned toward me. The marker drops from her hand when she turns. "Liz?"

"Please help me," slips effortlessly from my lips.

And then she is around me, behind me, and surrounding me, never intrusive, she guides me to the chair.

Operating in full blown doctor mode, she softly explains everything before she does it because any medical student can tell you that an informed patient is a calm patient.

Only at this point, all the explanation in the world is going to do very little in putting me at ease.

I grab her arm as she pulls away from me. "Don't leave me." My voice sounds scared.

"I'm not. You see the refrigerator over there." She points across the room. "There's some ice in there. You're face is about ten minutes from resembling a boxer's."

"You're not leaving." I repeat.

"No, I'm not leaving Liz."

Satisfied, I let go of her arm noting the muddy handprint on her lab coat. "I'm sorry."

"I'll wash it."

"Stains don't come out. It will always be there no matter how hard you wash it."

"Then I'll get a new one."

I curl up.

Lena takes a seat by me and starts to dab some hydrogen peroxide onto a cotton ball. "This is just to clean up your face. I'm going to put some antiseptic cream on the cuts. They don't look deep enough to warrant stitches. Are you having trouble breathing?"

Kyle is.

"Liz?"

"What?"

"Are you having trouble breathing?"

"A little."

She pulls out a stethoscope from a drawer and slips it underneath my shirt. "Hmm," she chews on her lip. "Is it okay if I lift up you shirt to look at your ribs?"

I nod watching for "the face," which centers somewhere along the lines of horror and pity that everyone makes during the unveiling of Seth's little side project.

She doesn't make it. Her fingers press gently on my ribs while a familiar burst of warmth tickles my skin. Warmth I know very well.

"Any discomfort?"

"No." Like, there should be any now.

She pulls my tank top back in place.

Turning around in the chair, I watch as she starts to place the supplies back in the proper areas noting a familiarity about her I just can't place.

Finishing her task, she grabs a pencil and starts flipping it over her fingers before stabbing it into the tabletop. There's a faraway glance in her eyes that Seth would definitely deem being on vacation.

Instinctively, my hand covers my stomach. He didn't do this.

He couldn't do this.

The door bursting open disrupts her vacation and my muddled thoughts.

"Parker, what the hell happened to you?"

"She was mugged." Lena answers smoothly.

"You were mugged. Are you okay?" He cups my face.

"I'm fine Brian. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just blown everything off."

"Just sit," his voice softens. "Where have you been all morning?"

Sound sticks in my throat.

"She was meeting a contact of mine. I couldn't make it, because Pierce needed me to speak with the mayor," Lena inserts.

"Great Pierce is handing down directives. I'm going to have it out with that bastard."

"I think that would be counterproductive."

"How would you handle it Lena?"

"Give him the illusion that he is in control, he can open doors if he is willing that none of us can open on our own, keeping him in play is vital."

"You're right. You're like this biomedical Carl Rowe."

Lena responds by stabbing her pencil again into the tabletop. "I know my way around politicians."

"Parker stop fidgeting like a four year old and let me dry you off."

"I don't want to be dry ever." I say heated before heading to the window. Brian looks at me once before continuing his conversation with the ever so affable and alluring Miss. Cruz."

"I grew up with one but nothing has appeared to rub off from dear old dad."

Lena looks up from murdering the table. "Your dad is a politician?"

"Yep, he's a Congressman, and your family?"

She stabs the table hard. "There are bluebloods on my mother's side while my father got his power by taking things that don't belong to him. We've never been really close, since I was fostered away from him, not that I had ever wanted anything to do with him, or my mother's family to begin with."

"Fostered away, what is that?"

"I was adopted after my mother died. It's a custom the taking in of children that aren't biologically yours. My people believe that love should transcend blood. Sometimes in rare cases if the child is truly broken by events, it does. They can be fixed."

"What do you mean by broken?" I ask.

"It's just a figure of speech. I need to see about my cultures. I'll just be in the next room Liz." She explains before getting away as quickly from my question as she can.

"You obviously hit on something." Brian says after she has closed the door.

I roll my head and enjoy the feel of the droplets sliding down my back. "Here I didn't even think you'd notice because you were too busy hitting on her."

"What's with you?"

I lick my wet lips. "Why does anything have to be up with me? Tell me," I brush his thigh. "Is anything up with you?"

"You're argumentative. You're blowing off work. I'm sorry, but you've left me no choice. You're manning the outpost."

Casually, I shed my wet outer shirt.

His eyes remain glued to my very see through tank top. "Seducing me is not going to get you in the field. God, will you stop acting like you're on drugs or something. We need to talk."

"Talking is overrated."

"Stop Liz," he removes my wandering hand from his chest. "I get jealous easily. I need to apologize about the whole Pierce and Max thing."

"I'm cold." I look down at my shoulder, "and wet."

"Yes, you are. Would you like my coat again?"

"Yes, please." Grateful, I cover myself up and settle down beside him.

"What's up Liz?"

I lean my head on his shoulder. "I wish I knew. I just feel really strange right now." I answer catching a boy, whose presence triggers a myriad of emotions, peeking in on us through a small window from the hall before sighing.

"What?"

"Why do things always have to be so complicated?"

Brian's thumb brushes over mine. "Easy things are usually not worth pursuing."

"My grandmother said something along the same lines once." He presses his head to my stomach.

I thread my fingers through his hair.

"Liz."

"Hmm."

"Nothing," he dismisses before bringing his lips down on to mine. It is only afterwards that I notice Seth is not the only person in the hall.


	22. Trainwreck

Chapter Twenty One: Train wreck

"Apparently, the infected are prone to massive fantasies. There's a woman, whose daughter has been dead for nearly ten years, who claims she's actually alive but living in what can best be described as a parallel dimension. I guess what I resent most about this is the run around. Every briefing in Mexico City indicated that this facility was where the infected were being housed and now we get here, and they tell us they have been moved farther inland. Plus the sample, you looked at has vanished. One moment, it's there and the next it isn't. I've experienced government cover-ups, but this is entirely different. There is some kind of force that is actively thwarting any investigation on our part. "

I glance back at the window to see Seth still there, but his father is noticeably absent. "There's something I have to tell you." I lift my head off Brian's shoulder.

"Lay it on me Parker."

"This is very hard for me. I should have told you sooner, but I was scared. I was so scared." Inhale, "I'm not like normal people Brian."

"I wouldn't be coming around if you were normal. Who's really normal anyway? Normal is boring."

"Normal is safe."

"Safe is boring."

"I used to think that to. There was so much excitement in fooling the Sheriff and our parents. God, I was stupid. It all changed when he got caught, and we had to break him out."

"Who got caught?" His voice changes noticeably.

"I'm not telling this right. It's just kind of hard to know where to start."

"Beginnings usually work."

"I was sixteen, and I was working at my family's restaurant. I had just gotten done

showing some tourists a picture of a baby doll I left out in the heat and saying it was an

alien."

"That's my Parker."

"Two men got into a fight. One pulled out a gun. They were wrestling, and the gun went off. Everyone ducked, but I just didn't move. I couldn't and then I felt it. It was burning so much that I just wanted to close my eyes, and then I heard his voice. He put his hand on the wound and…" I pause feeling as if I was almost revealing something intimate between Max and me.

"And?"

"It gets complicated after that. He brought me back to live, or you could argue I came to life then only to be squashed by him at a later date." I explain bitterly.

"Parker, you're not making any sense. Who is this 'he' we're talking about anyway?"

I take a deep breath preparing myself to try and say his name.

A small body bursting in through the door puts an end to my attempt.

"Could you help me? I've lost my daddy," Seth says oozing charm in the very same way his Aunt used to when she wanted something.

Brian looks to me hesitantly before falling victim to him. "Can you tell me what he looks like?"

"Well, he's stronger than you, taller than you, and he could probably beat you up if he wanted." Seth nods.

"Really," Brian smiles.

"He's very strong. People always listen to him."

"How about we go up front and see if we can find him?"

"How about you go up front?" Seth's voice turns hypnotic.

"Maybe, I should go up front," Brian answers.

"You've been in here much too long with Liz anyway."

"I've been in here much too long with Liz," he repeats.

"Seth, cut it out."

"Why? I'm not hurting him. He's going to ruin everything. If I have to be sneaky to help my sister, then I'm going to do it."

"Enough with your sister already." He scampers away from me before I can grab him. I try to rouse Brian instead. "Look at me honey."

"Honey, did you just call him honey? That's gross."

"Fix him Seth, now."

"Nope," he skips around merrily like a mischievous wood nymph. "You and daddy both are going to be saying thank you to me later. I would really like a puppy. Daddy says we can't have it on Antar, because puppies only live on Earth. I guess the puppy could stay with you, and we could come visit it. But then you would be here and we would be there and that isn't going to work at all."

"SETH EVANS."

"Liz...," he mimics before pausing, "What's your last name anyway? Goodbye Malibu Ken," he waves as Brian slips out the door determined to follow out Seth's suggestion. Seth throws his arms around my waist. "That was too easy. He must not be a very smart human. Can we go and get daddy now? He's meeting with the man in the white coat, and I can't understand anything they're talking about."

I try and disentangle his fingers from me. "Let go."

"No."

" I mean it Seth."

"Why?"

"I have to find Brian. He needs me."

"Not him again," he presses his head against my stomach and looks up at me with his big brown eyes and ridiculously long eye lashes. "Daddy needs you more."

"I don't care." I slap at his hands trying to free myself.

"I'll tell you a secret one you can't tell anyone."

"Stop using your powers on me and let me go."

"I'm not using my powers. You don't want to be let go because if you did you would have already done it by now. What are white bloody cells? Is it bad if you don't have them anymore."

"White blood cells?" I correct. "Seth, come on already. Yes," I wiggle out of his grasp.

"I'm letting you go and see Brian, so you will help me." He crosses his arm across his chest.

"No one lets me do anything."

"I do."

I roll my eyes, "come on."

"I'm fine right here, thank you."

"You're going to fix Brian now come on."

"Why?"

"Because," I shove him toward the door.

"You are so bossy."

"So, now I'm the bossy one? Walk, I'm not carrying you."

"Are all ladies as frustrating as you are?"

"Are all little boys?"

"I am not little. I'm going to grow just you wait and see." He says indignantly. "See, Brian isn't anywhere. I'm getting tired Liz." He whines.

"I don't care." Opening an office door, I peak into and find it empty. "Where could he be?"

"I think my daddy is dying."

"What?" My head snaps out of the room.

"My dad is sick. He's been that way ever since I can remember, but now I think he's dying."

"Stop conning me. That's not even funny Seth."

"I'm not trying to be funny. I'm being serious."

"Right, your dad can't get sick. That's the absurdist thing I've ever head of."

"Everyone gets sick Liz even us."

"You've made a mistake."

"I don't make mistakes now do something."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, but you're supposed to do something to stop it. He did it for you and now he wears Nessa's mark right here," Seth touches his cheek.

I swallow. "I just need to find Brian."

"Forget about Brian already." He yanks my arm. "Daddy is this way. He had to go visit the man in the white coat, and they're talking about things I don't understand."

"This doesn't concern me."

"YES, IT DOES."

"Lower your voice, there are people here who we do not want to attract their attention."

"I don't care about the people. I care about my daddy."

"Seth, where are you going? You can't just wander around."

"It's not wandering if I know where I'm going. I need to hear the man in the white coat talk about daddy's crazy brain cells."

I press my lips together. "You said he didn't have any white blood cells before."

"I don't know what he has that's why I need you to explain it to me."

"What has your dad told you about it?"

"That his head is hurt because of Khivar and that's why we always have to talk with our mouths and not our minds like all the normal families do."

"Can you talk with your mind with Tess?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Stupid question."

"No, I want to know why you would ask something like that. How many times, do I have to tell you? I don't like Tess." He shakes his head. "You don't believe me?"

"There's a lot going on right now between Tess and me."

"Is she the reason you're so muddy and your face looks hurt?"

"Yes."

"I want to show you something." He lifts up his shirt.

My mouth falls open and my eyes start to immediately water. It's settled. I'm going to find Tess Harding and rip her heart out.

He puts his shirt down quickly. "Why are your eyes doing that?"

"I'm crying." I wipe away the stray tears.

"Why are you crying?" He fingers touch my check hesitantly before shooting back as he feels the water. "I really think you should stop doing that."

"Did she do that to your stomach?"

He nods.

"When?"

"Don't know."

"Then how do you know she did it?"

"The sad lady told me. It used to burn a lot."

"Like your skin was on fire."

"Yep, how did you know that?"

"Hunch," my hand creeps down to cover my own stomach. "Do you know why she did it?"

"Nope, now, will you come with me."

"I have to find Brian first."

"But I showed you my stomach, you're supposed to feel sorry for me and go with me now."

"I'll go with you after I find Brian."

He stomps his foot.

"You better stop trying to manipulate me. I'm going to help you get some answers and talk with your dad, but you need to let me do this first."

"Okay," he concedes a little too quickly for my liking. "Let's go find the Barbie doll."

"Why are you calling him that?"

"It's what daddy calls him."

"I wonder what he calls Tess." I mumble as we turn the corner to find Brian sitting on a wooden bench mumbling about how he's been spending too much time with me.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that Liz?" Seth snaps.

"Fix him."

"Then we go to daddy?

"Yes, but first you need to promise that you never do anything like this again."

"I will fix him, but I'm not making any promises. " His eyes shift. "He's just a human. It isn't like he has any powers to do anything back to me."

"So you're in the habit of hurting people that are weaker than you?"

"No," he answers hotly. "That's something Tess would do. I'm not hurting him. I'm just distracting him."

"I want you to stop distracting him then."

"Then I want you to speak to daddy for a thriathon."

"I don't know what that means Seth."

He thinks for a moment before thrusting his wrist in my face. "You have to stay with daddy and talk to him until my watch goes around once."

"An hour."

"An hour," he repeats looking quite satisfied with himself. "You can't fight with him either."

I roll my eyes.

"I'm serious Liz. Daddy gets upset when he's around you and then none of his words come out right."

"It isn't going to take me an hour for him to explain to me how he's sick. Brian," I reach out to try and stop him from getting up.

"Stay, human," Seth orders as if he's talking to dog, which Brian for his part obeys without question.

"Fix him now, or I'm going..."

"You're going to do what?" He challenges.

"Tell your father."

"But then you would have to leave Brian all by himself with me."

I narrow my eyes, and red sparks shoot down my arms.

"You might not want do that with the people around." Seth whispers. "Their attention could be bad." He informs me repeating the same warning I just gave him minutes ago.

"Fine," I concede too tired to fight with him anymore, "but you're on my list buddy."

"I thought only Santa had a list. You will talk to daddy." He presses.

"If you fix Brian and do nothing like this again."

"I'm fixing him." Seth announces while carefully omitting any promises on his future behavior toward Brian.

Almost immediately, the cloudiness in Brian's eyes shift. "I don't think your dad is around here."

"He's in there." Seth points to a closed room. "Liz is going to take me, right Liz?"

"In a minute," I answer. "Do you feel okay Brian?"

"Fine, now that we've been successful in reuniting families, I think it's time to concentrate on the issue at hand."

"Yeah, there's something I need to tell you about that."

"She will tell you all about it after she takes me to my dad."

"If you know your dad is in there, what do you need her for?"

"What do you need her for out here?"

Brian shoots me a strange glance.

Ah Men. Aren't they fun? "Just give me five minutes Brian."

"You promised a hour Liz."

I push Seth forward. "You are not being cool right now."

"I wonder what he would do if I told him you were married to my dad?"

"I'm not married to your dad."

"But you were in the before, I saw it."

"So that doesn't mean anything, it's gone. I changed it." A bad taste fills my mouth.

"And now you marry Brian more than sometimes," he scoffs. You get very mad at him, because he gets the top of his shirt dirty with," Seth stops and pronounces the word carefully, "lip—stick. It smells funny to you." He turns to me." You're so angry with him for messing up his shirt you throw it at him. Daddy and I, we never get our shirts dirty."

"That's enough," I answer deciding to concentrate on the real and tangible as opposed to the abstract.

"I'm just trying to help."

"Stop." I stare at the door not sure if I can handle opening up the proverbial can of worms that awaits me on the other side.

"Open it."

"You open it."

"I'm a prince. Daddy is the only one I listen to, and my sister, because she's the queen."

"Where are meaglans in all of this?"

He answers by opening the door to Max and Seth's man in the white coat otherwise known as Dr. Javier Barbosa. I stand in the presence of a Nobel Prize winner with my mouth completely open and possibly drooling for all that I know.

I'm aware of Max introducing us. I blabber something about how his paper was extraordinary while simultaneously working through all the possibilities his connection with Max could entail. He pats Seth once on the head before handing him a little trinket that Seth immediately recognizes as being from Mercedes.

Just like that, the legendary reclusive Barbosa removes his white coat, places his straw hat on his head and walks down the hall. My eyes find Brian who seems to be just as shocked as I am.

"I just can't believe that happened, and I shook his hand. Mani is never going to believe this." I whip out my cell phone and get a picture of the man's back.

Max for his part seems to be operating on quite another emotion than star struck. He hauls Seth into the room and shuts the door. I turn the knob only to find it's locked, so I knock and then resort to banging causing the people in the hall to stare, and Brian to join my side.

"What are you doing Parker?"

"Making a point, he can't just shut me out when he wants to."

"I'm not following. I'm assuming the scary guy is the boy's father."

"Do you hear that?" I yell against the door. "Even a person who doesn't know you thinks, you're scary." I yank on the doorknob.

"Do you know him?"

"Yes," I grit kicking the door in one last attempt to get it open.

"Care to elaborate?"

"NO, SHE DOES NOT," Seth screams from the other side. "DO NOT TELL ME TO BE QUITE DADDY. I AM NOT HAPPY WITH YOU RIGHT NOW."

"Um," Brian stares at the door and then at me.

"Just a second, I promise. Seth is kind of excitable. He's scared, because he thinks his dad is sick." I whisper.

"You don't think his dad is hurting him? He looked a little hard core."

"No, Tess is the hard core one."

"You can't really break down the door."

"No, I can't."

"But you can't walk away either from them."

I flinch.

"That's Max, isn't it? Pierce showed me a picture of him."

"Yes."

"Come with me."

I stare at the door while my grandmother's advise of following your heart despite the complications takes this moment to surface in my mind.

"Parker, the guy made you miserable." Brian continues.

"He did," I offer.

"It's obvious he never cared for you if he has a kid with someone else."

The light cuts over us and the smell of sulfur becomes almost unbearable. I hear the click of the lock as two muscular arms yank Brian and me into the room. Our backs smack up against the wall.

I find myself looking straight into Max's dark, pained eyes. I look away and remind myself that damaged guys are not sexy and are by no means hot.

"Who the hell do you think…?" Brian begins but he never gets the words out as Max presses his fingers to the side of Brian's neck. I watch Brian's lips move, but no sound comes out.

A blast forms in my hand, but before I can use it. Max's hard body traps me up against the wall and imprisons my hands in his own. Red and green sparks flow freely between us, and something else that is better left forgotten. Suddenly, I'm back between the deep fryer and a plate of Kielbasa being taken places that no human has a right to tread.

I close my eyes as the feeling only intensifies. Despite the fact that our hands are the only place where we touch, the warmth building inside of me is almost too much after years of nothing.

Ironically, it is Tess' unearthly cat like shriek that breaks the spell. Dazed no more, I pull on my hands and am under no illusions of my own strength as Max decides to free me.

A quick glance across the room finds Seth peeking out from underneath a table.

Red energy courses down my arm in response to Seth's obvious fear of Tess. "She isn't getting anywhere near you again," I promise.

Brian's eyes widen in response. "I can explain." I dip down to him and try and touch his cheek. He leans as far as he can away from me.

"You don't have to worry. No one is going to hurt you. I wanted to tell you. I was just scared. I'm still me despite everything," is all I get out before a sinister rumble vibrates below us causing the erlenmeyer flasks on the counters to tumble off and shatter onto the floor.

I stare at the carnage seeing Crashdown plates instead. A soft pressure on my shoulder puts an end to the memory. I shrug away from Max's touch.

"The two of you need to move to the outer perimeter," his highness commands pointing to the far wall.

"Stop ordering me around."

"I'm not ordering you. I'm making a suggestion, but you're willfully misunderstanding everything I say. In Africa, you watched as they sacrificed a gazelle, and you never said a word against it even though you thought it to be wrong. You accepted it, because you were a guest in their culture. I'm a king and even if the idea doesn't sit well with you, couldn't you try and accept it, because it is part of mine."

"What I can't accept is you keeping things from me? I know now about everything." I annunciate. "I will never forgive you for it."

"I guess you can just add it to your list of my many failures."

"Stop fighting and start planning," Seth advises from his spot beneath the table.

"The outer perimeter is strategically safer. The threat is going to be coming through this one." Max explains pointing to the wall we are sitting against. "It is best to see any potential combatant coming at you instead of being blind sided by them, so again I request," Max draws out the word with exaggeration, "that you move for your own safety."

"Okay," together Brian and I move.

"I told you daddy. Girls like it when you explain things to them."

"Yeah, you told me Seth."

Brian points to his mouth.

"Sorry, give him back his speech."

"No," Max states simply with his back to me.

"Why the hell not?"

"Dealing with you is more than enough for me right now."

A blast starts to form but is abruptly snuffed out by a force other than me.

"Your powers are not in a position to challenge me." Max offers never looking away from the door leaving me to wonder how he knew I was contemplating blasting him in the first place.

"So we're just going to sit here and let whatever it is come and kill us. That's just brilliant."

"Patience is the key to trumping any enemy. Prison taught me that." He answers pointedly.

"I'm just the lying bi—jerk," I correct remembering Seth, "who put you there, right?"

"You said it not me."

"Daddy," Seth warns, "remember your promise."

"At least, I'm not the only liar in the room."

"Liz."

"I had my reasons, which is a lot more than I can say for you."

"Daddy."

"They were my parents. You had no right."

"STOP IT." Seth takes a deep breath. "If you can't say anything nice to each other than I don't think you should be talking. There are bad things out there. We need to be fighting them."

"I'm sorry Liz for being irritable." Max grits out.

I glare at him like hell if he's getting an apology out of me.

"You were being bad to Liz," Seth whispers in my ear. "You should you say that you're sorry to."

"No."

"You're acting like a little kid."

"Fine, I'm sorry to."

"Okay," Max answers.

"Good," I respond.

"I'm very proud of both of you and maybe next time you won't even need me to remind you to be nice." Seth answers like some contented therapist, which is the last thing I decide he needs to be.

I pat his head as my eyes fall close. A queasy feeling stirs in my stomach.

"SHE IS STEALING MY BREATHS." The same child's voice from the bathroom screams at the top of her lungs.

I lunge forward covering my ears. I hiccup once before the contents of my stomach come spilling out into a wastebasket that Max has conveniently placed in front of me.

"HELP ME MOMMY PLEASE! I NEED YOU!"

I heave again as Max grabs my hair behind me.

"Make her shut up," I breathe over the wastebasket, my eyes watering.

"Who Liz?" Max demands over my shoulder.

"The girl, she won't stop screaming at me. She's Sierra, but she's not. Whoever she is isn't really happy with me, because I told her to leave me alone. I'm must be really losing it if I'm interacting with people who aren't even here."

A window shatters over us. Large pieces of glass bounce harmlessly off of Max's shield.

"I think she's trying to kill me on top of it all."

"Nope, she's just scared and angry." Seth explains crawling out from under the table. "She's little and wants what she wants now. A green light begins to swirl around him as he stands up. "I told you to be patient. You said you were going to be good for me and making the lights go out is not nice."

"Seth," both Max and I call in unison with an equal amount of fear in our voices.

"Dad, Liz," he takes a moment to glare at Brian before finally saying his name. "This is my sister and your daughter Liz."

I open my mouth and proceed to vomit whatever is left inside of me into the wastebasket.


	23. An Uneasy Truce

Chapter Twenty Two: An Uneasy Truce

"You don't seem very happy about this Liz?" Seth asks as the green energy around him becomes erratic. "I told you I was going to make everything okay, and I am." He asserts to the light.

"Could you possibly make everything okay by coming over here with me Seth?" Max carefully asks while I continue to stare at the show playing out in front of me.

The glow dims noticeably around Seth. "Of course daddy likes you, why would you say something like that? He's just scared, since you've been going around doing naughty things like sounding like Tess outside. I told you that wasn't going to help. How about you go get your mommy some water? She's sick."

Mommy? I frown finding its use in reference to describe my person to be a little unsettling.

"There are some bottles over there. I'll help you find one." Seth offers as the light obediently bobs off with him.

I lean over to Max. "What is going on?"

"You don't think she's dangerous? She doesn't appear to be hurting him, right? The lights here are on a generator if I'm not mistaken so she couldn't necessary make them go out on her own, which means we've got other problems."

"Mommy, I can't be anyone's mommy. I have a good ten years of blowing seven hundred dollars on a pair of shoes left."

"You've never blown seven hundred dollars on shoes."

"It could happen." I grab my stomach.

"You feeling sick again?"

"I think so. This is worse than when I had food poisoning."

"Seth."

He looks up from his search for water bottles. "They were supposed to be in here daddy. I saw them in my head, and they are always in here, not sometimes, but always." He reiterates before frowning at the light. "I think you're messing me up, because you're there and here at the same time."

"What is he talking about?"

"She's folding present and future somehow. I've never really been able to understand exactly how it works." Max answers. "Serena says it's how Seth gets his visions, but he's never been able to go as far and actually make himself noticeable in the timelines he sees."

"It's past and present," Seth corrects. "This is her past daddy. It's why she's acting like a baby, because she's not old here like she is there."

"I think she needs to go back where she belongs Seth. The wrong people might notice this."

"My sister doesn't want to daddy. It's scary there."

"Why?"

"Tess."

"Tess," Max repeats.

"She's hurting her and telling her lies about me now she thinks I'm not going to come and help her. I will always come help you, always," Seth reiterates to the light, "because you're my sister and I'm your helper."

It takes more of me flowing into the wastebasket until one important fact finally dawns on me. I look up from the rim of the container at Max. "Seth is calling her his sister," I say slowly. "I'm the mother. Does that mean we're having child together?"

"No," Max swallows. "Seth tell Liz what you think a sister means?"

"Why? She knows what it means. I'm using the word right."

"You are and you aren't in a sense."

I look at both of them. "I've had just about enough of the patent Evans mystery. One of you needs to speak right now."

"A sister is a very special person that not everyone has, but I know if I would have one I would take care of her and never let anything bad happen to her. I would love her very, very much." Seth finishes as the light brightens around him. He smiles. "She said she loved me back. When you go away daddy, it isn't as bad, because I still have her."

A spasm crosses Max's face. "Who picks your sister Seth?"

"You do daddy."

"How do I do that?" His eyes close.

"You pick someone who is right, because I'm not."

Max eyes spring open. "You are perfectly fine. There is not a single thing wrong with you."

"It doesn't make me sad anymore. Some things fit people more than others." Seth nods. "You picks my sister, and she comes and lives with us. We're a family. It is how is supposed to be, but I did it wrong daddy. I picked for you."

"Adoption is a common Antarian practice. It is done for various reasons. Individuals might kidnap and take in the children of their enemies to raise and use in future revenge plots, or it might be done to link warring families together. In rare cases, it is done out of compassion. Larek took in Miranda, because she had no other place to go. A child who appears to carry a certain trait of leadership might find itself placed with a family involved in politics."

"Even if what you say is true, you are not taking my kid not matter what special ability she supposedly is going to have."

Emotion akin hurt spreads across his features. "There a lot of things you can accuse me of and most of them are true to some extent, but this is not one of them. I know what it is like to have your child taken from you, and I would not wish that on my worst enemy." Max withdraws from my side.

I bite my down on my lip.

"She always belongs to you to daddy." Seth inserts. "It's just sometimes she belongs to you

sooner than in other times."

Something flashes briefly in Max's eyes before being ruthlessly squashed out. "Do we need to have the discussion about telling stories again Seth?"

"I'm not telling stories. Well, I sort of tell stories sometimes, but only for good reasons."

Max looks away.

"But, I'm not telling stories now. I'm trying really hard to keep from telling stories period. I promise because telling stories is bad. I am going to be good." He nods but his father is clearly not buying it. Staring at the door, Max appears completely oblivious to our conversation.

"What is this sometimes and always stuff?" I ask.

"Your baby is always special, and she's always my sister. We're always a family, but sometimes are family is very happy and sometimes it 's not."

"Khivar showed me her. He showed her kill you."

Max's head snaps in my direction. "What do you mean she killed Seth?"

"Daddy."

"Answer the question Liz."

I glare at him.

"Daddy making your voice sound scary doesn't make Antarians mad, but it makes humans mad."

Max's hands open in defeat in front of him. "You're right. You always know the exact way to do things."

"That's why I'm supposed to be my sister's helper."

"I'm sorry. I don't speak English much anymore except with Seth and interact with humans on an even irregular basis. You probably think I'm coming of as harsh."

"No, you've been a regular Prince Charming these last couple of days with all the barking Klingon you've been sending my way."

"You think Antarian sounds like Klingon? I'm sorry that a 5,000 year old language which is the basis for all other languages in the Whirl Wind Galaxy doesn't live up to your standards."

"It's guttural like Klingon." I backtrack believing in fact that maybe I'm a little biased against his culture. "I'm not saying it's an ugly language."

"But it's not pretty?"

"I know. They're driving me crazy to." Seth pats the light in front of him. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. You trust me, right?" Seth leans forward with a startling vulnerability etched into his face.

The knowledge that her slightest denial could sink him coupled with the memory of her cruelty sends me back over the basket while Max goes for a different approach. "One person's opinion of you shouldn't matter that much."

"Then why are you upset that Liz doesn't like you anymore daddy?" He smiles brightly at his father grinding his teeth.

"You can be good even without her." Max gets through his clinched mouth.

"No, I can't."

"Enough with this bad, good debate, you're good Seth. You're dad is good. I'm good. We're all good here." I gesture. "What I need for someone to explain to me is how she is here?" I point to the light.

"I already told you. She's scared of Tess, and you're her mommy."

"Seth, I don't how to say this, so I'm just going to say this. I don't have a daughter."

"Of course not, now. "

"Then how is she here?"

"Because she's there."

"There would be where?"

The light bounces happily next to Seth. "You're right. I love those books to. Daddy reads them to me all the time and does different voices with them. I'm sure he can read to you to." Swirls of green dip down behind Seth, "don't be that way."

"I don't mean to interrupt here."

"She was just happy, because we rhymed. It reminded her of Dr. Seuss. She loves Dr. Seuss."

"Those were your dad's favorite to. We must have read all of them."

"Just about," Max says softly before deadpanning, "which is exactly how you wanted to spend your recess reading books three grades beneath your reading level."

"I liked helping you."

His eyes dart away from me in a gesture reminiscent from our lab partner days. I look back to Seth watching us. "I need you to explain this better for me."

"It's really easy. Anyone can see it. You love daddy. Daddy luv…"

"About your sister's powers," Max interrupts rubbing his temples.

"She asked me to explain. I was explaining."

"Seth, please," I stress.

"Now you're being grumpy to Liz. Why do I always have to be with grumpy people?" He mumbles.

"Your powers Seth," Max answers.

"No, I don't feel like explaining anything more to you when all you two do," he shakes a disgruntled index finger at both of us, "is ignore everything important I say. It is very frustrating. Everything could be really good if you would just listen to me." Seth sighs causing the light to circle protectively around him. "I know," he says continuing his one-way conversation with his sister. "I just wish you were here. You always understand even when they don't." His shoulders sag.

Max turns to me. "Is there anyway what he's saying could be true?"

"She could be manipulating Einstein's Twin Paradox theory, and this is all of form of time dilation."

"Please elaborate for the kids in the class that didn't even graduate high school."

"You could go and get your GED if it's bothering you that much."

"It's not bothering me."

"Why do you sound so defensive about it?"

"I'm not defensive," Max huffs. "Are you going to explain this to me or not?"

"You were busy doing other things. I know a lot of really intelligent people who didn't finish school."

"College Liz not high school."

"Whatever," I roll my eyes realizing that my thoughts will never make any headway when confronted with his stubbornness. "Physics was never my thing. It's too theoretical. I like things that I can touch and see, so I'm probably not doing this justice. Einstein believed that time is relative. It speeds up or slows down depending how fast an object is moving in relation to another object."

"I don't understand."

"Say you're in your spaceship, you're holding a clock. I'm on Earth holding another one, but I can see your clock. The faster you go. The slower your clock would move from my perspective, but from your perspective it would be behaving normally, but this is all just theoretical."

"Totally lost on me," Max says obviously frustrated in his inability to understand which in turn only feeds his skepticism. "Seth, how do you know that this isn't some kind of trick?" Max offers gently. "There's a lot people who would like to confuse you like that."

Seth gasps as the light of his supposed sister is snuffed out. The transformation from hopelessness to anger washes over him quickly. His once defeated posture shakes with emotion. "Just because you got fooled by Tess doesn't mean I'm going to get fooled by her."

Max winces.

"You're dad just doesn't want you get to hurt." I offer hoping to sidestep the obvious land mine that Seth seems intent on detonating.

"My sister is real." Red wisps of power snake up Seth's skinny arms. "She's a better ruler than you'll ever be."

"When she's not killing you and carrying out Khivar's orders?" Max snipes before quickly clamping down on his mouth.

I step in between the two warring stubborn mules. "The two of you need to take a time out."

"You never liked her. You send her away from us when she's just a little girl. She's all by herself for such a long time before I go and find her. Why do you do that?" Seth's voice breaks.

Max stares at him. His face is blank, and his eyes are even blanker.

I tuck my hair behind my ear and sit down next to Seth. "Does your dad always send her away or just sometimes?"

"I don't know."

"If you don't know, then how can your dad know?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"It must be very frustrating to see how things are going to be and wanting them to be that way and having to wait for everyone to catch up with you."

"You have no idea."

"You don't see everything, right?"

"No."

"So some things are a mystery to you?"

"I already said yes." He replies testily.

"Now imagine everything being a mystery to you. Do you think it's really fair to expect people to know why they do the things that they do when they haven't even happened yet and may not happen at all?"

I see the figurative light bulb go off in his head, but sudden illumination is not enough to shine through his inherited stubbornness. "Fine, take his side and not mine."

"I'm not taking anyone's side."

"Right, I need to think about this." He announces like some teen trapped in the throes of adolescents before disappearing underneath a lab table.

"This is so much fun." I start to shiver and within seconds a coat smelling distinctly of Max is draped over my shoulders. "This looks expensive. I'm wet and dirty." I start to shrug it off.

"I'll wash it. Take it please. You're freezing."

"Thanks," my eyes fall close but are thrust open as Max yanks my body forward. "Just when you were starting to be nice," I slur.

"You feel sleepy?"

"Yes."

"Stay awake," he commands tensely.

"I haven't slept much lately."

"The nightmares?"

"Waking up scared and alone is the worst part," I close my eyes.

"Liz, I mean it." Warm lips brush against my ear before blowing a tickling heat into it.

My eyes spring open. "I'm awake."

"Good," Max smirks. "Seth," he calls starting to look underneath the desk but pauses.

"Let me do it." I yawn lowering myself onto my belly. "Seth," I pull on his arm but get no response. "This would definitely fall into the being bad category." I get no response. Grabbing his pant leg, I start to slide him out from underneath the desk. "It looks like he's sleeping, but I thought you guys didn't do that."

"We don't. Brian's out to."

I push myself out quickly having forgotten about him entirely between Max and Seth. Pushing the thought quickly away, I take Brian in my arms. "Please wake up."

"He's okay for the moment."

" What's is going on?"

"If I had to guess, I would say Grey's brothers are here."

"They're infecting us?"

"No, they're hunting for you." Michael answers as his body followed by Sinon, Kathana, Sero and Talen materialize through the wall.

"Obviously, your word means nothing to you Max," Sinon's nasal voice immediately accuses upon his entry.

Max grabs Seth and places him in my lap. Bending down he kisses my check, "You do what you have to, but don't let them take my son from you. He is the only good thing I have left in the world," Max whispers into my ear before withdrawing.

I blink still reeling from the desolation in his words and the tender feeling of his lips on my skin.

Max stares at me hard looking for some reaction from me.

I respond only by squeezing the still sleeping Seth in my arms. My gloved hand plays nervously in his hair.

"It gives us no pleasure to do this, but you were warned as to what would occur." Sero begins his vessel's eyes darting around the room

"Spare me your rhetoric," Max answers clearly unmoved. His attention moves to Michael. Their eyes engage in some sort of conversation unseen by the others.

"By the authority of the World Wind Galaxy," Sero continues.

"You need unanimous consent," Max interrupts. "Larek would never…"

"Your patron is no longer an issue," Sinon answers. "Since the whereabouts of his dear daughter remain unknown, the people of Nausica have been made a protectorate of Mycenaie. We wouldn't want any political unrest to spread, now would we?"

"What did you do Sinon?" Max's asks in a deadly voice that sounds nothing like the boy I once knew. "Nausica is a democracy. You just can't sweep in there and take over."

"Things change. Continue with the reading Sero."

"We have found Prince Seth Jeffrey Evans of Antar guilty of one count of time displacement punishable by an indefinite stay on the prison planet of Tantalus. "

Jeffrey. Max gave Seth my father's name. I hold onto Seth tighter.

"Talen of Mycenaie will be made dual heir apparent to the House of Mycenaie and Antar," Sero rattles.

"Father," Talen begins but is shutdown by a scowl from dear old dad.

"Kathana, this is ridiculous. You of all should understand what is going on here. Is this worth breaking the alliance, so Sinon can elevate his son to a place he has no right to be? Seth is an accepted as a member of the royal family. When word reaches Antar of your decision, my people will demand we leave this union." Max tries. "Everything we have worked to achieve will be over."

The woman finds an interesting place on the floor to study. "My planet is being overrun with the virus. We must eliminate all possible avenues so order can be reinstated, and the virus will be contained."

"You will never contain the virus unless you stop it at the source. Khivar has to be eliminated. I know you all are facing a terrifying prospect that we're just starting to see here, but now is not the time for knee jerk responses." I answer.

"Silence woman," Sinon orders.

"Your son has been known to be a distablizer. Order will never be achieved unless he is put somewhere where he can't upset things. The sickness is a result of the disharmony his powers create," Kathana continues, "sending him away, will weaken the viral entities."

"There is a scientific explanation for this. Working on an inoculation is the only possible solution. Someone is playing with their heads, aren't they?" I ask.

"I've had about enough out of you," Sinon answers as a blast leaves his hand but is easily blocked by Max's shield.

"You are not taking my child and putting him on a prison planet." Max bites.

"But don't worry Max, your child will not be alone," Sinon snipes. "The counsel also charges Liz Parker…"

"My name is Elizabeth," I correct him. "You want me to spell it for you?

"Seth rouses in my arms. Sleepily, he opens his eyes. "You're squeezing me too hard Liz. I can't breathe."

"The counsel also charges Liz Parker for crimes carried out against the cosmos and communicating numerous times with an additional destabilizing entity in the form of a girl child. Your sentence can be reduced if you give us the person in question behind the disturbance," Sinon finishes quite proud of himself.

"How about no," I answer as an icy cold sensation winds down my back letting me know I'm starting to schien

Seth shivers. "You're making me and Brian schien to. We're invisible for real. This is kind of cool."

It is only then when the room erupts in light and chaos.


	24. Split!

Chapter Twenty Three : Split!

Purple crashes into green making a low and throaty sound on impact. Crimson spirals off of purple. Their collision is no less dramatic in sight or sound.

I stand here watching colors splash across the room accompanied by their own unique sound that could be some scene from Fantasia come to life.

The ball of light that nearly takes my head off quickly reminds me of the beast behind this beauty.

"Liz, I think we should move." Seth yanks my arm. "We may be invisible to them, but we can still get hit. Move human," he commands to an obviously awake but non-cognizant Brian.

The three of us take up a spot behind a lab table peeking over the top. I can't take my eyes off the blasts. "The light it's just so beautiful. I've never seen anything like it."

"Fighting is not beautiful Liz." He folds him arms around his chest looking sternly at me like some old man. "Fighting is something that you only do when you can't do anything else. Daddy and Michael could be hurt right now, and all you're saying is looking at the pretty lights."

I narrow my gaze. "Are they hurt? I can't see through all the lights.

"They aren't so pretty now, are they?"

"Are you trying to make a point?"

"I've just seen a lot of people get hurt and some die when I was little. I wanted to make them better, but daddy said it wasn't my job to make them all better and if I tried it would kill me to." He slouches against the desk.

"That must have been very hard for you, but he was right. Sometimes people just die despite everything you do. It hurts a lot, but it's nobody's fault."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. Stop looking at me human," he orders Brian.

"Hey, he has a name."

"I don't like him."

"I don't care and stop using your powers on him."

"If I didn't use my powers on him, he would be running away or asking stupid questions."

"What's wrong with asking questions?"

"Nothing except if he's the one asking them."

"There you are. I thought you would be dead by now."

At the sound of his unfamiliar voice, I grab Seth while my own whirling ball of color rockets from my hand straight forward to Talyn's blonde head.

"Oh God," I close my eyes horrified unable to stop what it is about to transpire.

"You can open your eyes." Seth says.

"I just killed him. I just killed a kid. I'm terrible."

"It's not like he's a nice kid or anything. He liked to trip me all the time until my sister got him good."

"What happened to not fighting or hurting people?"

"I change my mind a lot. Open your eyes Liz, it's okay I promise."

Slowly, I open them.

Seth gives my gloved hand a comforting squeeze before pointing at Talyn crouching next to Brian. "See he's not dead, I made the blast move at the last moment."

"I could have blocked it." Talyn answers clearly annoyed.

"No, you couldn't have. She's stronger than you are."

"No, she isn't. You don't think my dad saw that, did you? I don't want him to treat me like a baby like your dad does."

"I am not a baby."

I catch Seth to keep him from going over to Talyn. "This is not the time."

"I'm not a baby," Seth says again.

"No, you're not," I answer, "ignore him."

"I'm trying," Seth whispers, "to make my sister happy, but it's hard. She keeps telling me that he's going to be my best friend, but I don't want to be Talyn's friend."

"It isn't like I want to be your friend either. You're nothing but a baby. Your dad lets you do anything you want. He's always with you all the time, and you're always talking together." Talyn says as if it's something bad. "Do you hear that? The fighting is finished, and my dad won. You two are going to prison." He stands up from his spot. "Dad, I got them," his voice rises clearly excited by the thought of the certain parental praise coming his way.

"Obviously your father hasn't taught you to survey the area before giving yourself away to the enemy." Michael answers.

Talyn's bottom lip quivers.

I smile. "They won."

"Of course, they won. No one beats daddy and Michael. It's very strange that the others would try at all."

Almost immediately, Max's face appears over the table at us. "You two alright?"

I nod as he lifts Seth out of my arms.

"What are you doing daddy?" Seth demands.

"I want to make sure you're not hurt."

"I'm not a baby anymore. You don't always have to worry about me." Seth huffs clearly spurred on by Talyn's words.

"Have you been bothering my son again?" Max asks the tone of his voice hovering two octaves below terrifying.

"No, sir," Talyn answers his attention never leaving the prone figure of his father. "Is my dad…" he stutters unable to get the most vital word out.

"Dead," Max says crisply.

"Yes, sir."

"He should be, but I am not in the business of causing upheaval. Your father's death would throw your planet into chaos." Max's burning eyes spear into the boy. "I only hope that when you ascend his throne, not mine, you will be a more cautious and thoughtful ruler."

"We just want what is ours your highness."

"The throne of Antar is not yours."

"It's my sister," Seth adds. "You never get it. You sign the papers, because you learn there are better things than having the throne."

Max frowns.

"I wasn't aware that a heir had been born Sir."

"I'm the one that asks the questions Talyn. You will do well to remember that along with your current position of alieon," Max snaps causing the boy to stiffen.

"No, please." His controlled demeanor gives way to that of a scared child.

"You should have thought about this before you accompanied your father on a treasonous mission. You're old enough to know what this is."

"My mom…"

"Will be notified," Max interrupts. "I'm not someone to be trifled with."

"Yes, sir."

"Go to Michael."

The boy obediently joins Michael who appears to be tending to Sinon.

"Daddy, I don't know if this is a good idea making Talyn our alieon." Seth says when Talyn is safely out of earshot. "You would be very upset if someone did that to me."

"I would."

"You would come and get me."

"You bet I would," he ruffles Seth's hair, "but I was raised human."

"So you're raising me human?"

"Something like that. Sinon will respect this. Talyn has potential, but he will never reach along as he's with his father."

"My sister says he can be very good and will never get lost. He's the son you should have had." Seth muses.

"No," Max grabs Seth by the shoulder. "I would be very unhappy if that person over there was my son. He is spoiled, rude, and arrogant. Everyday, my pride in you grows larger. It fills my heart. You're going to be better man than I'll ever be."

"Okay."

"This is a political thing, I need to keep an eye on Talyn, so you and Liz will be safe."

I try and step away fearing that I'm intruding but am stopped by Max reaching for me. "You don't have to run…hide I mean," Max says quickly, "every time we get mushy."

"We get mushy a lot." Seth explains dropping his head.

"I don't want to be in the way." I answer biting my bottom lip.

"You're never in the way," Max turns my chin away from watching Talyn stare at his father.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"I've made Talyn an alieon."

"Which means what exactly?"

"Can you go watch Talyn for me Seth?"

"If you want me to go so you can talk to Liz about things, you don't want me to know about you should just say so instead of pretending."

"Can you go, so I can talk to Liz?"

"Sure, see how easy it is."

Max turns to me. "Talyn is coming with us."

"So you're taking him hostage when you just got done telling me you would never take a child away from your worst enemy."

"That was before, his father tried to launch a coup and send Seth and you off to Tantalus. I need leverage to keep Sinon in line. Talyn's it."

"You can't do this. A child needs their family."

"Because Sinon is such a caring father."

"You said it yourself that your raising Seth as a human father raises a human son. Sinon is raising his son as an alien would. Does it look wrong to us? Yes, but that doesn't mean we need to be passing judgment on it."

"I'm not passing judgment on it. This is so like you. I'm trying to protect you, and you're kicking me in the teeth for it."

"Protecting me from a ten year old."

"I'm twelve ma' am." We both turn to Talyn who looks uncomfortably away.

"I stand corrected. He's twelve. You should feel proud of yourself."

"I don't mean to keep him forever," Max whispers, "just until I can get the rest of them to back off you and Seth. I'm not that much of an ogre, but this works only if I can get everyone to believe that I am."

"You do that a lot pretend to be people you're not to elicit a certain response, don't you?"

"It's the nature of politics to pretend."

"Stop pretending with me."

"I'm trying, but I do it with everybody. The biggest threat is not messed with."

"I'm not trying to mess with you."

"But everyone else is, hence these charges."

"Which is for what?"

"Biology loves variation. Society does not. You and Seth are about as variant as it gets. I was enough to balance him out, but I can't physically balance the two of you out. I'm only one person."

"Now you're explaining at warp speed, and I'm not following."

"They think you're Seth's meaglan, and the two of you together are making them uneasy. It ridiculous how at the first sign of trouble everyone's rationality goes right out the door, and they start buying into ancient myths."

"Nessa said that I would be meaglan to the King of Antar."

"She would like to see Seth be a king of Antar."

"But everyone seems to agree that wouldn't be a very good idea."

"It wouldn't." He pulls me down behind the lab desk and takes out a device from his pocket. "It keeps people in the room from hearing us. I am not going to fathom what these people are thinking, because it's pure fantasy crafted by apocalyptic nuts. Someone must have seen you and Seth aligning at the club. From their perspective, this means he's waking up with you, and they believe it could be a potentially negative thing. Coupled with the visitor we've just received that I'm sure the empaths sensed, I imagine they are a lot of upset individuals right now. The person behind it has created quite a political crisis for me. Our people are into balance, and things are by no means balanced at the moment if they're buying into this."

"You don't believe the presence was true?"

"What? That's your daughter. For arguments sake, I'm not going to pursue it with Seth, but I've been fooled before along these same lines. I can't wait to find the person who has decided to move onto my son."

"I've seen Sierra while I've been here."

"Our people often see the dead among us. You're mourning her. It's just your powers manifesting themselves."

"She's real. When I was lost in Vietnam, she showed me how to find the UN Soldiers that were looking for me."

"What really happened out there?"

"I found out exactly what I'm capable of."

"Whatever you did, you did it because your life was being threatened."

"That's one way of looking at it. I still don't understand. What did we do that is so wrong?"

"Time is not something you should be messing around with in their eyes, because in the end it will always seek to right itself."

"But Seth has visions."

"Seth is the first seerer to be born in years. It makes the other government heads uneasy. They scorn him in public. Yet, Kathana, Sinon and Sero are all secretly trying to get him to come to their court when he's older while openly questioning my monopoly of his powers."

"You're his father."

"If I wanted to, I could use his power to rule over the whole galaxy. That's how potent he can be if I was to direct him in the right place. The others want him, but they don't want anyone else to have them. Getting rid of him is the politically sensible thing to do and you right along with him since you have dominion over him."

"Dominion?"

"Haven't you notice, how he can't stand to be away from you. He'll do anything to win your approval."

"Considering all we do is fight, no."

"He likes to bicker, but in the end he always does what you want him to do within reason."

"I don't see that."

"You should have seen him when I came to at the club. He was floating around and wouldn't come down. He even read me the riot act in three different languages. His tutors seem to be doing their jobs." Max grins.

"At least he comes by his determination naturally. He sticks to his guns no matter what happens."

Max's smile falters.

"I was talking about you." I say quickly. "I really was," hating the blonde specter that always seems to hover around our conversations.

Max pats my knee. "It's okay. You and Seth are what you are. The good thing is that you don't abuse whatever is forming between the two of you."

"But my daughter could?"

"Your daughter is a non entity in this."

"Did you see his face when he thought she might not trust him back?"

"He's lonely and being surrounded by only adults and very few children who actually accept him doesn't help matters."

"Your denial of this isn't going to help."

"How can you even consider that you have a daughter who is somehow communicating with us from the future when there is no concrete proof? I would think the scientist in you would be completely against this idea."

"I feel it here," I cover my heart, "like there's someone missing." The feeling in my chest tightens, "which means Tess has to go if she's going to be hurting her." A red spark falls from my fingers.

"We don't know what he say is actually going to happen. This is a trick."

"Then you didn't hear her laughing at the club?"

"I will admit that I heard laughing, but I will not admit that was her. I just need time to find out who is doing this."

"It doesn't matter. I want Tess dead."

"You're not a murderer."

"Like you are?" An awkward silence ensues.

"I do what is necessary and eliminating Tess is long over necessary." Max finally answers.

"Why didn't you tell me about my parents? Was that not necessary?"

He presses his lips together into a thin line, "to protect you, to keep you safe, to lessen your hurt. She took so much away from you. I didn't want you to be poisoned by it. Thinking your misfortune is a random act of fate is so much easier to handle than knowing someone was actually behind it. You were so lost when you woke up. I couldn't burden you with the truth and when you started to get better by some miracle I couldn't tell you then. I knew you needed to know, but I didn't want to hurt you any more than you had been."

"Did they suffer?" I shake my head. "I'm ready to hear the details, yet."

He tucks a strand behind my hair. My eyes fall close at the touch of his fingers along my cheek.

"Don't go to sleep," he whispers softly.

"I'm not. I'm just remembering. It wasn't all bad. Was it?" My lids open to his darkened gaze.

"No."

"Do you regret being with me?"

"Liz," he croaks.

"Answer me please," I plead. "If I hadn't been here, things might have worked out with you and Tess."

"Things would have never worked out between us." He says fiercely. "I don't regret being with you for a minute. I never will for as long as I live. You gave me my son back."

"What do you mean?'

A sing song whistle sounds causing Max to look up.

"Answer the question."

"This isn't a good time. Duck your head," Max says in response. His arms grow tight around me as we both slide backwards out underneath the desk's opening to where the rest of the group waits.

"I'm all for you two making up but did you have to do it right now," Michael snipes obviously frustrated.

"Things are going to run a lot more smoothly if Liz is in on this." Max answers.

"It takes a life and death situation for you to finally take my advise. That's brilliant Maxwell."

"What's with the whistle?" I ask.

"Miranda telling us that trouble is coming." Michael answers.

"Miranda's here?"

"We think. We don't know, because Maxwell decided to piss her off, by not listening to her. He seems to have that trouble where his women are involved."

His women.

"So she's around here somewhere. We just can't tell, because she's doing that chameleon thing, she does when his highness gets her panties in a twist.

"Can we not do this right now?" Max starts to rub his temples.

"Headache?" Michael asks while his annoyed brotherly persona changes drastically to that of the concerned friend. "Did Javier give you something for it?"

"Yes, along with giving me the great pearl of wisdom that I needed to take the stress out of my life."

"Miranda has been telling you that for years."

Miranda. I fold my arms around my chest not enjoying her repeated mention.

"Just don't tell her he said that or she'll never let me live it down."

"Can we get stop chit chatting or do I need to remind you that there things out there trying to get us?" I snap.

"You're right Maxwell. She's a lot testier than she used to be."

I glare at Max.

"I didn't say that." Max swallows.

"That's funny. You said that like thirty minutes ago along with it obviously being a sign of sexual frustration."

"WHAT?" My checks redden.

"Drop it Michael, right now." Max demands with one hand over Seth's ear and the other over Talyn's.

"I'm not sexually frustrated. I'm so satisfied. I'm getting all the sex I want. In fact, I'm getting too much."

"Interesting how you're asserting this to Max and not me."

"Go to hell Michael."

"Three words Liz, kiss my…"

"Will you two start behaving like adults? I would like to keep Seth a child for as long as possible."

The heat from Michael's barbs drains away causing me to feel quite foolish. "I was just trying to make a point. I'm sorry for being inappropriate."

"I'm sorry to Father Maxwell even though it's not like either can hear us with you blocking it out like that."

"The day you have children Michael I swear," Max begins before two whistles interrupt him.

"Okay, kids, we're going above them." Standing up on one of the tables, Michael removes a square particleboard from the ceiling. Hanging from the frame, he pulls himself up into the exceptionally small space before hoisting Seth and Talen up. Their small heads bob back and forth into view as they struggle to be the only one to look down at us. Michael shoves both of them out of way as he reaches down for my hand.

"Take Brian first."

"Come up here human," Seth orders, which Brian obediently follows.

"Will you be able to handle being up there?" I ask Max cautiously.

"Why wouldn't I be able to?" His hand shakes only minutely as he finishes setting out three rocks around Sinon, Kathana and Sero's bodies.

"We could try going out into the hallway?"

"Going out there isn't an option especially with the kids."

"I know about your phobia. I think it might come into play if we're up in shafts."

His head snaps in my direction. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's not anything to be embarrassed about. I hate thunder." I admit. "I'm scared to death of it."

"Get with the others Liz."

"You first."

"There isn't time to waste for you to be difficult."

"There isn't time to waste for you to be playing with rocks either."

"We have discovered that Grey's brothers hunt by seeking out warm blooded prey. The blocks mask body heat. I want my fellow alliance leaders to have a better chance than they were willing to give you and Seth. Eventually, they'll wake up and have to figure out how to get out on their own."

"What about Kathana and Sero's vessels? They won't care what happens to them."

"The number of vessels a mind can actually inhabit are limited. Once, you find one you're in the business of taking care of the person."

"What makes a relationship work?"

"Likeness in the person's make up, Larek found Brody to be appealing, because both had suffered from the prospect of losing a child. You wouldn't be fishing as to why I picked Brian, are you?"

"Why did you pick him? The two of you are about as different as they come."

"If you say so," he answers.

"What is that supposed to mean? Just for once, I wish you would answer a question. It's like pulling teeth just to have a conversation with you." I say as I am knocked to the floor and am in the process of sliding away when Max grabs on to me by my arm. My eyes shoot down to the red tentacle wrapped around my thigh. "GET IT OFF," I scream.

"I can't without hurting you."

"THEN HURT ME," I continue to shriek watching the muscles in Max's arm shake with the effort of holding me.

I hear Michael land on the lab table.

Max turns to him. "Take them and leave."

I kick against the creature while being vaguely aware of the debate going on behind me, which centers around Michael telling Max he's crazy, and Seth begging Michael to do anything to help his daddy and Liz. Then there is nothing.

Max settles down behind me and grabs my waist.

I stare over my shoulder at the closed ceiling. "Michael left us." My voice trembles.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes," I whisper truly surprised by my answer.

"Thank you, you won't regret this time. It's about to get a little weird from here on out."

"I can do weird just get this off of me. I can't feel my leg." An acid smoke rises from my pant leg. "It's eating through the fabric."

"Remember, I'm right behind you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Another red tentacle touches Max's leg briefly before jumping away as if had been burned.

"It doesn't like you."

"I suppose he doesn't. Duck your head so you don't hit it on the floor. It's going to look like at first that you might crash through the wall, but you'll pass through it. I won't lose your trail. I can smell you."

"Smell me? What are you talking about?"

"This is the only way to get them to release you. I'm right behind you." He says again before letting go. His stoic face is the last thing I see as my body materializes through the wall.


	25. The Twins

Chapter Twenty Four: The Twins

By the time I reach my destination, I am bruised and am firmly convinced that Max Evans hates me.

Let's examine the facts.

When presented with the problem of having one Liz Parker, ex girlfriend and formerly supposed dream girl captured by the acid spurting tentacle of doom, the subject, Max Evans, proceeds to do what?

a) Blast the tentacle with his alien supper powers.

b) Favor the caveman like approach by gnawing of the offending digit with his teeth.

c) Takes a page from Keanu Reeves' character from Speed and allows the very touchy

and feely creature of unknown origin to steal said Liz Parker and materialize her

body through numerous walled structures and not to mention several floors all in an

attempt to bring her to his very small and cramped lair that my would be rescuer will

probably have some trouble coping with it.

All I can say is that I hate him, but my current Max sucks, insert inappropriate image here, takes a backseat as I get a look at the owner of the acid emitting appendage when he drops me unceremoniously at his feet.

He is thinner than he should be despite wearing Alex's unmistakable face.

His tentacles reverting back to normal arms reinforce the idea that despite sharing a similar phenotype the individual in front of me is not my friend.

I try and squash the threatening customary bout of nostalgia so engrained with any remembrance of his loss, but the desire grows to get lost right along with him. It takes an additional much fuller Alex to emerge from the shadows for me realize that maybe I already am and have been spinning off course, since the day that he left us all.

"I miss you so much."

Both Alexs' puzzle at my words before the much larger one begins to speak to the smaller one. "What food have you, for us to munch?"

"It is a human, I bring to our brunch." Baby Alex prods me in presentation.

"She is a pretty one. But where is this ma'am's man?"

"He has fled with his head in his hands."

They both chuckle while I start to wonder how I got caught in the "Jabberwocky" poem.

"I like the shape of her face."

"Cracking it open will only improve her taste."

"I'll put an end to our rhyme, and begin to devour what is mine." Flaps of skin start to pucker around his neck causing him to resemble that of a Cobra.

A blast fizzles in my hand. I try to shein but nothing happens for my brain does not find any version of Alex to be a threat. Scooting back, I am stopped by the other Alex. "Mine, you say. I set the trap that caused her to fall right into our lap."

"Being the oldest, I will decide what is best." He grabs me from the other.

"Seconds cost this loss." The smaller Alex retreats.

"But your brother is not your boss," I answer.

Both siblings cringe. "Your skills at the rhyme are asinine. We've heard better words, uttered by a child of nine."

"If you spare me some time, I will try and improve my rhyme."

The oldest rolls his eyes. "Hopeless creature, I do not appreciate your jest. You do not have the skill, and I'm ready to eat my fill and only then will I be at my best, to hunt the one who has survived all the rest."

"But do you plan to share him or her, with your younger brother."

"If there are any parts to spare," the oldest answers.

"Parts to spare, I deserve my equal share." The youngest shoves him hard.

"You will not face a chance taking on he who survived, where all others have died."

Baby Alex flexes one scrawny arm. "I am strong."

"And he has a brawn born from a love fit for a song. Separated from her forever he is, but yet he still longs for one kiss from his lovely lady Liz."

"What?" I close my mouth abruptly as their eyes narrow in on me.

"She is a clever, one trying to make us go on and on to spoil our fun." They both move in on me.

"Wait," I put my hands up. "This man who has survived the rest," I pause trying to think of my next word. "Is it really necessary for us to rhyme or alliterate or whatever we're doing?"

The two brothers answer in a growl.

"Alright, alright I ask that you are not rash."

"Speak fast," the older one demands.

"Give me the name of this man, who you would like to get into your hand?"

"Max is his name, and what exactly is your game?"

"What do you want with him?"

"To punish him for his sin. He took our brother Grey away, for it he must pay." The older brother sits down next to me followed by the other in a sign they've obviously inherited Alex's talkativeness.

"Grey was always Khivar's favorite boy, so when Max was ready he became Grey's newest toy. He loved to make Max scream, because that always made Khivar beam."

I pull my legs up to my chest.

"But a very strange thing happened, Max would not die, even though Grey tried and tried.

It is on account of his lady, but others say it was her baby."

I press my head to my knees.

"He did not die but part of us now lives in Max.:

The memory forms an entirely different context almost immediately.

"Liz, you knew this day would come. Ripping yourself open isn't going to delay the inevitable."

"Excuse me if I'm not willing to sit back and wait for Sierra to be six feet under."

"She's asking for you."

"Give that back."

"Looking at X-rays you've poured over a thousand times before, isn't what she needs now. The time for pills and test are over."

"What would have me do then, Brian?"

"Love her for facing your mortality is the hardest thing to conqueror in my opinion."

"Wake up. Do not go to sleep." A man looking very much like Alex on steroids growls, "what have you done to her?" He asks his two shaking brothers.

"Nothing, we wanted a taste, so we acted in haste," the older of the two answers.

"Enough with the rhyming already, it is giving me a headache." He grabs the smallest Alex. "Was anything done to her? She looks pale, and she's shivering."

"No, we are telling the truth," they answer.

"Fine," he grabs me and throws me over his shoulder.

"But, we meant to eat her with a bit of wine."

"Try some cheese with your whine," he chuckles carrying me out the room down a darkened hallway into what look like an auditorium before setting me down underneath a skylight.

Viewing yet another Alex and seeing no sight of Max, I do want any young woman might do. I lose it. I launch myself at the man. "HE SHOULD HAVE LET THE BULLET KILL ME. HE SHOULD HAVE LEFT ME THERE TO BLEED TO DEATH. EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE. ALEX WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE. MY PARENTS WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE. HE WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE." I grab onto Alex's collar. "You're a virus, do want you're meant to do. Kill me, kill me, kill me," I repeat over and over falling to my knees. "Just kill me and be done with," I say hoarsely.

His hands touch my head tenderly. "Leaving you on the floor to bleed to death was never an option that I would be willing to take."

I lift my head at the sound of his familiar voice. His gaze meets mine wearing almost the same look he used to give me all those years ago.

"How?"

Max pulls me gently to my feet. "Mind warp, even though they are the weaker of Grey's brothers, they were the first of Khivar's attempts so they're mental powers are not as refined as the others. Alpha and Beta would have known exactly who you were. Liz, about what you said." He starts.

Oh Lord please save me. "Are you sick?" I blurt out. "They said you were."

"Why did you say all those things? You aren't to blame for any of them. I want to apologize if I have been implying that you were. It was not my intention."

"Are you seeing any doctors? It is neurological? Is that why you were seeing Dr. Barbosa?"

"Have you told your therapist about these feelings you're having?"

"Why aren't you answering me?" We both say in unison.

He stares at me.

I stare back before breaking contact.

He unfolds his hands to reveal a strand of hair that looks to be one of the Alex's.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to grasp the finer points of biology, and epidemiology and failing miserably. How about helping your old lab partner out of a jam?"

"My only lab partner."

"Pardon?"

"I was the odd one out you remember after you and Tess became partners. I got used to working alone, so I made sure that I was always the odd one out in class."

"So you don't have to rely on others." His jaw does a funny little twitchy motion. "You can get DNA from hair, right?"

"Yes."

"Can it tell you anything that will help?"

"It depends. The key is to find how the viral RNA inserts itself into the human DNA. It's why we need a valid blood sample from one of the infected individuals." I tear my eyes away from him.

"Touché."

"They look so much like Alex. I miss him so much. It's like this ache that won't ever go away."

The circle of his arms finds me with surprising speed. I cling to the warmth, and the strength that he offers. I press into him wanting only to disappear forever into his embrace. "It's my fault. I messed with time and started this whole ripple. A butterfly flaps it wings in…I don't remember where, and you get a rainstorm in Shanghai."

"This isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is."

Max starts to tell me why I'm not responsible, but I'm not listening. I'm too busy watching them lower his casket into the ground waiting for the précised moment when I can jump in there with him.

"Stop, Liz, just stop torturing yourself over this." He breathes against my forehead.

Hindu women used to throw themselves on their husband's burning funeral pyres. Only Max isn't my husband. He isn't my anything. "Tell me, you aren't sick?"

His silence provides all the answer I need. "No," I sob over and over into his chest until my voice goes raw.

"It's not as bad as you think." He reassures me while lowering me down into a sitting position. "I'm sorry you found out this way, but it doesn't change what's going on right now." He squeezes my hand, but I'm lost in the land of what if with a newly married couple dancing in a beer smelling dive outside of Phoenix.

"Liz," he tilts my chin up to meet him. "I am the last one to propose this, because I think you do it too much already, but you have to put this aside for the moment. Nothing can be done about it, but something has to be done about what is happening now because left unchecked it will only get worse."

"Did you know we danced our first dance as husband and wife to "I'll Shall Believe?"

"No, we didn't." He says gently.

"I bet you twirled me around like you used to, and I would have put a white rose behind my ear."

"That didn't happen."

"We wouldn't have enough money to get a room. We must have gone to the desert."

"Stop it, I need you to focus."

"Don't you ever wonder?"

"I stopped that years ago." Giving up on me, he pulls out his phone and frowns.

I know better not to ask.

"We need to go. Things are about to get dicey here. Are you up for some hiking?"

"In the jungle?"

"Yes."

I'm putting it in a box, bubble or any other holding instrument.

"What happened in Vietnam?"

"I saw my true self, and it wasn't exactly pretty. How far do we have to go?"

"A day if we make good speed. How's your leg?"

"The acid ate through the fabric. I have a bit of a burn but nothing serious. We can't leave without Mani and Lena though."

"They either got out, or not. At this moment, they shouldn't be your concern. In life and death situation, it is unwise to let your emotions cloud your objectivity."

"I'm still going to find them."

"And if you find them, and they're in trouble what are you actually going to do?"

"I'll blast them."

"And did that work with Grey's brothers?"

"No."

"You're better off if you stick with me right now."

"I can't just leave them."

"You have no intel as to where they are or to the number of threats roaming around. You need to look at the picture not the pieces."

"So individual lives are inconsequential?"

"In the scheme of things, yes."

"I understand a part of what you are saying on a subliminal level, but I've must tell you I've never been a real fan of Social Darwinism. If I'm put in a situation where I can help someone, I'm going to do it no matter what the bigger picture is."

"Then you're going to end up getting yourself hurt."

"Like you did, when you healed me."

"That has nothing to do with this."

"What was the bigger picture that justified you saving my life?"

"You haven't experienced men and woman who will sacrifice thousands to gain nothing more than power while closing their eyes at the true cost."

"Of course not, because that sort of thing never goes on here." I answer sarcastically.

"Have you ever been in prison? They'll take everything away from you if you let them. It amazing how fast your qualms on the sanctity of life go right out the window."

I swallow realizing Max the healer has turned into Thomas Hobbes. "I agree I may not have your background if you'll agree that nothing is black and white, and no choice is clear cut or simple. I didn't mean for those things to happen to you."

"Then stop blaming yourself for them. I'm only trying to give you some insight as to the world you're about to enter. You still think all people are intrinsically good. I hope you will be able to keep that, because it's one of the things I admire most about you. With that in mind, you need to realize that very few people are as selfless as you are. The majority of people are only trying to maintain their own survival, and they will do what they have to achieve it."

I turn to my clothes for a change in subject and a peaceful way of ending Max's descent into Hobbesianism. "Speaking of altruistic characters, at least, Tess gave me a hand. I don't have to worry about getting muddy."

"Do me a favor, let's not talk about mud. It gets me off tangent onto other distracting things."

"What kind of distracting things?"

"Things I am not willing to talk to you about right now, or ever," he adds.

"We'll add mud to our list."

"It's getting to be pretty long list." He sighs as opens the door slightly to look out into the hall. "On three, we move, but you stay behind me and alert."

"Ay, Ay, Captain," I salute

"I'm actually a General along with Michael."

"You don't wear dress whites on your planet, do you?"

"No. Why?"

This proves that Max still favors the ladies.

Because every woman knows The Dress White Theorem:

Men + dress whites a very big distraction

Addendum to The Dress White Theorem:

Max + dress whites an even bigger distraction.

Strange I have the sudden need to watch both Top Gun and An Officer and Gentleman.

"Um, dress whites are being put on the list along with your military uniform."

"I have to wear my uniform if we're going into battle. It's custom."

"You're planning on going into battle?"

"That's on the list too."

"You're going to fight Khivar? When?"

"That's classified now less talking and more moving. Stop," he whispers circling around me. "Walk on the balls of your feet not your heels."

"Why?"

"Because you sound like a herd of elephants otherwise."

"You're such a gentleman."

"In my experience gentlemen are the first to go, scoundrels live a lot longer." He slings me back behind a counter. Seconds later I hear running that indeed kind of sounds like a herd of elephants.

I peep over but am yanked down by Max.

"The point of hiding is, so they can't see you." Grabbing me, the two of us roll over to the far side of the counter. "Here, we're covered. We can see them, and they can't see us. You hear how loud she is. She's telling everyone where she is. You ever have heels take them off. They make pretty good weapons if you're in a jam." He tells me like some self- defense teacher."

Through the crack, I see a swath of black cloth with yellow diamonds run pass. I try and stand up to get her attention but am stopped.

"What are you doing?" Max hisses in my ear.

"Trying to help her."

"Are you so sure that she needs help?"

"What are you talking about?"

"One of the hardest things for me to learn was that not everything is what it seems. Get all the pieces before you commit yourself to a scenario. She's too hysterical like she wants to be found."

I flinch at the sound of a woman's scream. "You are just going to stand here?"

"Consider this the first lesson of your education," Max pulls me up. "You stay with me. Do you understand?"

"I'm not a child."

"The longer we argue the less of there is going to be of your damsel to observe."

"You can't really be this snide? She went the other way."

"The security terminal is this way. There's also a window with a manageable drop off for us."

"How do you know that?"

"I studied the schematics, before I came here." He shrugs his shoulders like it's the most natural thing in the world. "It's in here. Stay behind me." Max kicks open the door to an abandoned octagonal room.

"Looks like, they cleared out of here." We throw up both of our hands as red star shaped figure flings itself in our direction. Green shoots from his hand while a red comes from my glove. Forming into one beam, it causes the creature to fall at our feet. Forming a net around the squealing creature, its girth grows only tighter till the animal stops struggling all together. An emerald jelly pours from its punctured side.

"Don't touch it. The meg is poisonous in this form even if it is dead." He stumbles before righting himself against the desk. "The woman is going to be on this one."

"Are you all right?"

"Fine."

"Your hands are shaking."

"Get the tapes from cameras one and two also."

"Is loss of muscle control a symptom of your condition?"

"Stop being the scientist and just follow direction for once in your life."

"If you stop being an asshole first, what happened to including me? Of course, you have to be one of those people's who rages against any mention of their weakness." I pause realizing that letting my emotions cloud the issue won't help. "Being angry is taking away the energy you need to fight this."

"There is no fighting it." Max closes his eyes and starts to recite some form of mantra.

Unable to process his words, I revert into science mode. First, I pull out my cell phone and take pictures of the serial codes on the camera equipment that some how found its way into a government building when the local budget for the state Chiapas is miniscule.

Taking a plastic bag out of my purse, I use an empty Styrofoam cup and scoop the Meg into the bag. I'm ejecting the tape showing the basement footage when the ends of close to ten repelling lines touch down in the main atrium.

I cover my cheek protectively remembering the sharp pain from the gun butt that had connected there. Falling was the lie that I had given Brian or Max or both of them.

A lanky figure emerges from the shadows to greet them. Despite, the graininess of the resolution, it doesn't take a lot of effort to identify Pierce. He and the soldiers disappear off the monitor as the woman in the in the diamond skirt enters on camera three walking casually along with a very muscular Alex. He says a couple of words to her before patting her on the head in the very same way Alex used to do with me.

I turn away from the monitor.

"The smarter ones like Alpha and Beta like to lure their victims. It's all part of the hunt." Max says softly free of his trance. "They pick women for some reason and use the Megs to control them."

"If that's true then that would mean that…"

"The Meg was after you. It's more likely it came from the dead woman under the desk." He says a little too casually. "Listen to me on this, don't look."

"And Pierce?"

"We don't exactly know what his role in all of this is, but the flash drive that I stole from his computer should be of use. We need to go. I know this is a lot to process." He starts to unlatch the window.

"Like you being sick."

"It doesn't impact our current situation, so it ceases to be important. I would appreciate if you would drop it now." He wraps his arms around my waist, "too bad I left the pixie dust at home."

"We can't make that jump."

"We get so tied up and thinking of what we can do and should do. It's amazing what happens when you just do and not think about it." He whispers against the back of my neck causing me to shiver.

"Recklessness never got me anywhere. Things need to be thought out." I step up onto the windowsill.

"Because you're so content with being cautious."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I don't know. Ever have anything on the tip of your tongue, but you can't get it out."

"It comes out eventually."

"Too bad I'm under a time constraint."

"You're not that sick, are you?"

"No, I'm talking about a different kind of time constraint. Of course, I could speed things up a bit just so you could wear that tight black dress that shows off your legs to the wake."

I turn and look at him over my shoulder. "That has to be sickest things I've ever heard you say."

"What do you know? I'm sick. What are the odds?"

"You can't just give up hope."

"Hope is a luxury that I can't afford."

"You're right. Why don't you just sit back and do nothing?"

"I didn't recall hope doing a lot for Sierra, did it?"

I blink against the closest thing to a verbal slap that I've ever received.

"I'm sorry," he says quickly. "I'm sorry that was out of line."

Unable to deal with his cynicism any longer, I let go of the frame and plummet. It barely registers when I land on my feet or when Max joins me.

"I thought I was going to have to push you to get you to jump."

"No revealing another charming aspect to your personality was enough to do that. Let's get one thing straight, I make my living helping people who are ill. You think this bitter routine of yours is unusual? You think I haven't seen it before? I'm sorry that you feel weak and powerless. I can only imagine how difficult for you it is, but don't you ever bring up Sierra's name again. I have a memory of you. I would appreciate if you would stop dismantling it piece by piece in some attempt to drive me away, because you're afraid. Afraid of what, I don't know? Say something please."

"We need to go. It's not safe to be in the open like this for so long."

I shake my head feeling tired, disappointed and just sad.

"I can't be the person that I used to be. I'm different. I've changed. Can we just leave it at that?"

"Yes, we'll leave it at that. I'm done. I'm just done."

He responds with only an unreadable stare.


	26. The Seduction

Chapter Twenty Five: The Seduction

Perched high above on a rocky outcropping, the height grants me the power to see almost ever last detail of Villa Flores from a dog running down a dusty and deserted street to a lone green balloon escaping from some child's hand up and away until it meets its end.

Sweat plasters my shirt to my skin.

Through it all, I wait.

Wait for Max to do some king thing he can't do in my presence.

Wait for my heart to stop hurting.

Wait for both hands of my clock to stop spinning rapidly around so that I can tell what time it is.

An eerie red glow from the sky casts its hue down on white washed building. Its touch gives the effect of the entire town being swathed in crimson.

I shiver bringing my arms around my exhausted body.

Throwing my head high, the red brew only deepens above me before running over smothering the twinkling stars within its frothy poison.

A hand's palm emerges from the carnage. Its index finger beckons in an undeniable message. "No." I close my eyes and try and center my thoughts on the leaves rustling in the wind but not even there do I find peace as their noise takes on the sound of Khivar's singing in a language much softer than Antarian. Falling and rising, his words construct an image that my heart easily grabs onto despite my ignorance of his alien tongue. For he does not try the same tact of wooing me with lavish clothes and stunning declarations of his power, he instead presents a single image one whose sparseness contradicts his exorbitant personality, but hits to the heart of who I am and what I want.

The promise ends the moment Max's voice calls behind me, but my desire stays where it will surely grow with time.

"I'm sorry it took me so long. I had some trouble reaching Michael, because of Seth being scared. I had to explain to Seth that you hadn't been eaten. He's just a kid, and he's worrying about whether people are getting eaten. Sometimes, I just don't know anymore. Liz, what's wrong?"

I turn to him.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course, I'm alright."

Khivar is an illusion.

Max is an illusion.

They're master sellers these aliens. Yet, what happens when you want what one is selling?

"Can we go already?" I say rather testily scooting off the rock.

"Your eyes are glowing."

"I guess you missed the memo. I'm part alien now."

"They're glowing red."

"Great, I'm related to Rudolph on top of everything. I guess that I rather have red eyes than a red nose. I wonder if Santa will let me take the sleigh out for a spin?"

"Khivar was here, wasn't he?"

"Now your eyes are glowing green at least we match. Of course, we can only come out during Christmas or maybe Halloween. Let go of my arm, or I'm blasting your hands off."

Max grits his teeth as his hand slowly opens. Muscles unclench pulsating with the effort he exerts to let me go. When he finishes, his eyes look off into the distance still carrying their unearthly glow before the two spectacular emeralds converge on me.

"Beautiful so beautiful," I find myself saying while my fingers creep down his scarred cheek.

His hand stripping my own away from him is enough to break whatever delusion I must be suffering.

"I'm…s," The touch of his lips against my fingertips silences me.

"We need to go, now." Max says softly. "Will you come with me?"

I nod my head.

"You need to say it. It's important."

"Yes. That's weird the red doesn't look so intense."

"Yes, it doesn't. It gets a little rough up here."

"I'll be right behind you."

"Try right beside me."

"Beside works to, but I don't know if I can keep up with you. Your legs are a lot longer than mine."

"Then I'll slow down then."

The leaves move above us spurned on by the wind.

I stop but my heart continues right along pounding as I make the mistake of staring up at the dome of trees that now surround us. A vibrant jade color completely blocks out the sky.

"This is the first time you've been back in the jungle since Vietnam, isn't it?"

"Yes." I frown at my sudden slip into honesty.

"Is this going to be a problem for you?"

"No."

"You're not moving."

I glance behind me finding our trail has been eaten up by rows and rows of freakishly giant trees. "We came that way, right?"

"No, we sloped up from our left and then straightened out here." Max explains patiently.

"I know where we're going."

"This is a jungle. There are trees everywhere. Everything looks the same, believe me."

"I studied the map."

"Do you have the map with you?"

"It's in my head."

"You have a photographic memory?"

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"Since I was a kid, I guess."

"You never told me that."

"It never came up. Can we go now?"

"Sure." I chew on my bottom lip bothered by the fact that memory has enhanced our relationship into this pinnacle of closeness. While the ideal continues to bloom, it poisons the soil for all that come after it. I am chasing after a ghost, or a person who never actually existed in the first place.

"Is the pace okay for you?"

"It's fine."

We walk on with me trying to reason through my Disney inspired Prince Charming fantasy while Max is just Max, which could mean a number of things that are no longer apparent to my eyes. "Can we stop for a little? I need to catch my breath."

He pulls out a bottle of water from his sack. "Here."

"What happened to not having any water? I'm been walking around tasting throw up for hours."

"Water in a field of a battle is reserved for need situations. I gave you some gum." He adds.

"You're a real gentleman." I drain half of it then hand it to him.

He stares at it dumbly.

"Water," I jerk the bottle toward him.

"Go on drink the rest, I'm fine."

"Show me you have another one first."

He flips up the top of his sack to reveal three more bottles, "satisfied?"

I put the cap on the bottle and put it back into my bag. "I just wanted to be sure that you weren't giving it all to me."

"Like you said, I'm not a gentleman."

"I don't know who you are or aren't at the moment. On one side you're a caring father, you love your son."

"And the other side?"

"You're distant and withdrawn. I think it enables you to make the decisions that others can't."

"We need to get going." He says roughly. I chase after him, and his incredibly long strides.

"Do you want to wait up?" I call after him.

He turns on me angrily. "You don't know, alright? You just don't know, and I would like to keep it that way. You're good and kind. I love that in you. You gave me the bottle. It could have been the only one in there, and you were going to share it with me."

"That's not normal?"

"No, it's not." He takes off again.

"Then what is normal?"

"Disloyalty, intolerance, brutality."

"There has to be some good? There is always good."

"I've seen so much bad that the good is hidden from me."

"I don't think you're actually looking for it." A drop of water lands on my nose, "rain. Guess, we're getting wet?" Wind stirs the leaves faster.

"There's a cave in a quarter mile. The rain's close though. It's going to be a bad storm."

"You know this, how?"

"I can smell it, less talking and more moving."

"Remind me again, why we can't take a car or a bus?"

"When you become the sudden subject of interest for many, it is best to be where there are few."

"Glad to see you've picked up the political trait of being as vague as possible."

"What happened to the walking?"

"I am walking."

"Turtles move faster than you're going right now."

"Bite me."

"I have been known to do that from time to time." He grins. "You always did have a nice neck."

"Your seduction attempts are a little rusty."

"If I was trying to seduce you Liz, we'd both be naked right now and in a lot better mood."

My head snaps ahead. I pick up my speed.

He catches back up with me in three long strides.

"You think that you're really funny, don't you?"

"You are walking faster."

"Which was your sole goal in baiting me," I roll my eyes, "because you and me would be just …"

"Just what?"

"I don't know. You fill in the adjective."

"You're the one that went to an Ivy League school."

"You're the one that rules a planet."

"I don't rule the whole thing."

"You are so much like your son. All you do is argue with me."

"You argue back." He smiles obviously amused.

"Like that is some novelty in your world."

"It is. Most people like to tell me how great I am, but plot behind my back. At least, you always call me out when you think that I'm doing something boneheaded."

"I don't recall you particularly liking that attribute about me."

"You're talking about the day that I tried to stop you from going to Sweden."

I frown not believing how we've stumbled back onto this chapter in our relationship. "Forget, it's over. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"I was wrong. I should have listened, but I didn't. I was angry with you, and my judgment had been clouded since that night."

I stumble.

He quickly grabs me. "There's a couple bad passes coming our way, but once we get through them it's going to go a lot smoother."

"Will it get smoother? I want to believe that."

"The land evens out more, because we'll be making our way into the highlands."

"You're talking about the land, right."

"It's important for you to know that I'm not going to go ballistic if you choose to contradict me but in that same token we aren't always going to be of like minds either. Our experiences vary too much."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That I value you, and your thoughts on matters," he adds.

I stare at him speechless. Funny for someone who is not trying to seduce me, he's just unearthed how.

Another droplet lands on my nose. The single droplet soon multiplies into a dozen watery prisms bearing down in a torrent. The thin soil rapidly transforms into mud that easily splashes onto our clothes.

"Wait," I huff over the clamor of the rain's descent. "I can't run anymore."

Max licks his lips against the water building there. "We're almost there." His eyes follow a path down to my breasts before shooting back up to my face.

"My shirt is see through."

"I sort of noticed that. Come, on." We start running again.

Seeing the yawning mouth of stone, I center all my energy on climbing up the hill to the cave's opening before collapsing onto its floor. Catching my breath, I lean back on my elbows and watch Max standing motionless but resolute against the storm's onslaught. Finally understanding, I stick my head then body slowly out before moving back toward him.

Rain travels in rivulets down his wet hair. The soaked white of his shirt reveals swatches of his bronze stomach. It takes the water pouring into my mouth for me to realize that my mouth is indeed open.

"Get inside Liz." His eyes wide as saucers fall again on the cave behind me. "You can't stay out here."

"Neither can you," I yell over the rain.

"Go."

"I'm perfectly fine staying out here." My confidence suffers a speedy death as a throaty boom falls down from the sky above. "Oh God, I hate thunder." I shriek wrapping my arms snuggly around any part of him that I can get. His skin radiates a heady warmth despite being wet. Wanting more, I press my body harder unable to get enough of the feel of him against me, and the safety it brings.

The rumble sounds again causing Max's arms to tighten in response. "You're okay."

Max looks down at the growing standing water at our feet.

"We can't stay in this water if it's lightening."

"I know that." The tendons in his neck grow taut, but he still doesn't move.

"We could be in a flood plain for all we know."

A blue vein bulges in his forehead.

"Come inside with me. We'll stay right up in front, so once you turn around you won't even be able to tell we're inside."

"You'll be with me." He adds obviously trying to reassure himself.

"Yes, I'll be with you."

"Then I can do it then as long as you're with me."

I take his larger hand in mine.

His grip constricts painfully as we reach the entrance. "This will be good. You won't be able to hear the thunder as much inside, so there's nothing to be nervous about."

"It will be much better," I answer deciding to play along with him.

"It's just a cave. It has been here for millions and millions of years. It isn't like it's going to fall in on you, or you'll be trapped without any light, so you can't tell what day it is." He says much softer.

I will back my tears.

"And we're not on fault line, are we?" He asks still looking wet and lost.

"No," I lie stepping into the cave, but Max does not follow.

"Right, we're not on a fault line." He tells me still not moving. "You don't have to worry about that."

"But I'm still scared of the thunder. If you could…no," I shake my head.

"Could what?" He ventures.

"It's just so embarrassing."

"You can tell me Liz."

"Hold me, it always made me feel so much better when you did." I say truthfully.

"I haven't held you, since I left."

"But you did when you were Brian."

"There's no way for you to know that was me."

"I'm beginning to know when it was you."

"Do you? Do you really?"

Sound waves crash from outside. Adrenaline surges to life within my veins. "I'm so tired of being stupid and weak."

"Don't you ever say that you're stupid or weak. You are none of those things." It takes the gentle feel of Max's arms encompassing me for the realization to hit of his new location. The undeniable proof that he came, because I needed him despite his fear adds an entirely different dimension that I am unable to process.

"Thank you." Overcome, I seek out my comfort spot lying just where his neck meets the shoulder. "Hmm."

"What?"

"My head fits that never happened before with anyone on the account of my huge head."

"You don't have a big head."

"Believe me, it's huge. You have to practically shove my haz mat mask on."

"I think it's a pretty shape."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Are you okay?"

"I am now. Are you?"

"Perfect," I lift my head up suddenly. "I'm not crowding you, am I?"

"With your giant head," he teases before stiffening in realization of where he is.

"No, don't leave me," I grab on to him hard as he literally tries to bolt back outside.

A bright yellow light flashes before another rumble falls down upon us.

"You can't leave me." I beg refusing to let go and no longer caring how ridiculous or clingy I must look to him. "Don't leave me. It's always worse when I'm alone."

"We'll just wait it out."

"Thank you, I know that this is hard for you."

"I don't have a problem with being in here." His shallow breaths say otherwise.

Sitting down, I scrunch myself up into a ball. "Will you sit with me please?"

He stares at me for a long time before casting one mournful glance out into the worsening weather. "I'm tired of walking anyway."

"Thank you," I say again as he drops down beside me.

"Save your thanks for when I actually do something thanking me for."

"You are." I answer easily finding a safe spot within his arms.

"If you say so."

I bring his chin down to me to keep his eyes from wandering around our cramped quarters.

"I'm not claustrophobic. I'm not." He vows voice trembling in fear.

"Shhh," I press my forehead against his.

"I just want to forget sometimes so badly, have a minute's peace."

"What brings you peace?"

"You," he states simply. "You always have from the first day we met. I was shy and awkward, but you always made the effort."

"You make it sound like it was such a chore. It was never that."

Parting my loose hair, his hand comes to rest at my cheek. "Liz…I.."

I draw back. "Your skin is like ice." I rub both his arms. "It's like your circulation has stopped completely. You were fine a second ago."

His dark eyes regard me. A moody irritation settles into their vibrant depths that effectively erases the vulnerability of only seconds ago.

Understanding the source makes it easier to ignore, I continue in my ministrations.

"I don't need you to be my nurse maid."

"Here I was looking forward to wearing my stilettos, and my itsy, bitsy white skirt." I tease hoping to use humor to get by his refusal to accept help. The thought that it is just my help he detests leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

"You don't have stilettos."

"Because you've spent so much time in my closet riffling around?"

"Well, no."

"The hat is priceless. You aren't going to rob me of the pleasure of wearing my nurse's hat."

"Has anyone ever told you are stubborn?"

"All the time, so you might as well sit back and take it." I smile wide.

"What are you doing? I can untie my own shoes Liz."

"I guess that throws out the notion of you having a harem back home that waits on you hand and foot."

"I don't have a harem."

"How about nubile temple maidens?"

"My sex life is no where that interesting. What, you're going to take of my socks to?"

"Your socks are wet."

"My clothes are wet. Are you planning on taking those as well?" He cocks his head. "I think I saw a movie like this. The hero and the heroine have to huddle together naked to keep warm."

"Sounds like a porn movie." I swat at his questing hands, "paws of my pants your highness."

"But I'm coldddddd," he chatters rubbing his hands together for effect. "Decrease blood flow has been known to bring on cardiac arrest."

"Has that happened to you before?" I demand.

His playing acting stops abruptly. "It's raining. People get cold when they're out in the rain." His words come out in short staccato bursts.

"We're in a tropical rainforest. You shouldn't be as cold as you are. Plus, only a handful of the general public is aware that hypothermia can trigger a heart attack."

"What can I say, I constitute the handful."

"You're skin isn't turning blue, but you're temperature is way off. Is being in here triggering it?"

"I'm not claustrophobic."

"Then has it something to do with your illness?"

"I'm not one of your patients Liz, nor will I be one of your patients, or anyone else's for that matter."

"No, you're my friend. I can't lose you again. The first time just about killed me. I just want to help you. Why can't you see that or accept that?" Lifting up his shaggy hair from his forehead, I kiss both his eyelids then top of his nose pausing as he turns those magnificent earthy eyes of his to full watt.

We linger millimeters apart leaving no way of knowing if it is me or Max that provides the force that brings our lips finally together.


	27. The Nature of Elizabeth and Maxwell

Chapter 26 The Nature of E_**liz**_abeth and **Max**well

We come together tentatively, a mere brush of contact, before he becomes far more interested in anything that doesn't happen to be my lips. His refusal to connect with me hurts more than he will ever know for its just one more reminder of how my great plan with Future Max worked.

What was is lost.

And yet, Max's arms still circle my hips keeping me close, and the silky glide of his lips is still enough to make my thoughts blur. I throw my head back as he presses frantic kisses to my neck. His hand slides underneath my shirt scooping up wet fabric as it travels up along the curve of my back.

I bury my face in the heated column of his throat. His smell mixed with the rain is almost more than I can handle. My tongue takes a swipe and then another just over his throbbing pulse.

The pull of my shirt stops as the cotton meets my shoulders.

"Look at me Liz," Max whispers. His eyes are dark, darker than I've ever seen them before. The sound of our shallow breaths fills the silence threatening to stretch out between us. "What are we doing?" His fingers trace a tantalizing line down my arm accompanied by a green streak and something else that feels quite nice if I do say so myself.

"What are we doing?" He asks again flicking off a strap of my tank.

"I don't know."

His gaze is almost curious as he eyes the cup of my bra peeking over my shirt.

I move to wrap my arms around my chest.

"Don't," he says moving one arm then the other. "Someone as beautiful as you are should never feel that they have to hide." His index finger circles just over my pulse point before traveling down the tender skin of my arm. The glide of skin over mine is addictive.

I say nothing as my shirt is taken from me and have the same response when my bra falls effortlessly off my shoulders.

"Wow."

My eyes shoot open. "Did you just say 'wow'?"

"Yep," Max grins looming over me.

"They're just ordinary. What's wow about them?"

"They're yours so that makes them wow," he says simply rubbing his hands against his jeans to warm them.

"But I don't under…oh…" My body grows lack as his thumb circles the hardened tip.

Gently, his hand cups the fullness. A green glow comes from between the spaces of his fingers.

"Wow," I throw my head back. My eyes drift close at the warm touch of his tongue. I thrust my fingers into his silky hair. He lets out an irritated grunt before pulling me still closer onto his lap where it grows impossible to be oblivious of obvious reaction to me.

Whether it's is some fleeting caprice that grips me or maybe it's the resurgence of Liz Parker from Elizabeth, I don't know, but it grows impossible to pretend away the important part that isn't here. Grabbing his collar, I pul himl up as hard as I can, praying that he will give me what I want but find disappointment the moment he pulls away again as I lean into kiss him.

"I'm sorry. I don't do that." His tone is hard, uncompromising born from some fear of his he seems hell bent on keeping from me.

"Because kissing is a human thing."

"Yes." He looks relieved. "I'm glad that you understand."

"Bullshit." I push him away and try and to get off his lap but only succeed in grinding my core into his erection. "Shit, stop that," I snap.

"You're the one who's doing it." Max grits. "Jesus, Liz."

"I want off." I struggle harder.

"And you're going to achieve that by setting me off?"

"You could use it."

"You could use it more. I barely touched you, and you're putty in my hand."

"I am putty in no man's hands." I press forward into him to reach the side of his face. The length of my tongue traces a path up to his ear. Reaching the lobe, I pull down on the tender lobe. Nipping it, I swirl my tongue against the sting.

Max's breathing becomes ragged. His mouth descends onto my breasts again, and my hand descends underneath the band of his jeans.

I head for his lips again.

"Don't Liz," he whispers his plea trailing his thumb over my bottom lip.

"Why?"

His head arches back against the wall. "Because," he grunts.

"Elaborate."

"Because," he says again.

I slow my stroking to a just a brush. "So you just want to use me, a sort of release on your part." I take hold of him. "It appears that you just got it." I withdraw my hand. "You'll have a wonderful story to tell all your friends about the earth girl who jacked you off."

"It's not like that," he shakes his head.

"Right," I get up already hearing my therapist's reprimand in my head.

_"Liz, physical intimacy can not be used to fill the void of emotional intimacy. Any benefits you may receive will only be fleeting."_

Turning my back, I slide on my bra and my tank.

"I thought that you understood that I need space." He tells me.

"You need space, but you have no problem sleeping with me when you don't trust me. What are you some kind of male whore of the universe?"

"I respect the many walls, moats, chasms, and whatever else you have guarding yourself. I don't see why you can't do the same for me."

"Because I'm human and for once in my life I would like to have something stable and normal."

He cringes.

"I didn't mean it to come out the way. Honestly, I know how you feel about this whole normal thing, which was not my intention."

"If you are so into normal then why are you jumping me when you've got your normal and ever so human boyfriend?" Max sneers.

"Because I'm in love with you, you fool." I gasp. My heart plummets. I can't breathe.

Max is staring at me as if he's a child that I've just broken the secret of Santa Clause to.

He opens his mouth then closes it causing me to replay the most devasting flash ever.

_"I never loved her."_

Lord, he doesn't love me back. My eyes dart around as the walls of the cave appear to grow tighter. "I…" I stumble back out of the entrance. I barely get two feet from the cave before I'm grabbed behind and hoisted up. "Let go of me."

"Not now, not ever." Max sets me down. "You have to know how I feel about you."

"Why don't you shove the knife in a little deeper, maybe you'll hit an artery?"

He moves to block the entrance.

"I'm not going anywhere okay."

"It isn't safe."

Spent, I sink down into a dark crevasse too far back inside for Max to follow.

"I know you're angry." His disembodied voice echoes.

"I'm not angry. I'm tired, and I'm sleepy. You might be used to walking miles, but I'm not."

"Liz…"

"I just want to go to sleep okay." I snap. Feeling his eyes on me, I hide my face within the rock.

"I've never been really good at talking. It's the whole hiding behind the tree quirk."

"I jacked you off. I don't need this much clinical analysis into the thing. God, it's a good thing I didn't give you a blowjob. You would be talking for hours. Now, I want to go to bed." I barely get the words out before I feel myself sliding against the cave floor stopping naturally beside Max and just as easily as before he picks me up and deposits my body between his legs.

"You want a repeat." I taunt.

"Be quite," he commands softly. "It's my turn to talk, and yours to listen." His hands draped around my waist give me a squeeze.

I fight against the urge to give into the warmth around me.

"I see through you. It's only right considering I gave you this mask to wear. You thought we were special until I showed you we weren't. So now you tell yourself that love is a joke and sex is the punch line. It makes it easier for someone with a romantic heart like yours to live in a world where everything is turned into artifice, but know this. You have been in my heart since day one, and you will still be there when my heart is nothing but ashes."

_I never loved her._

"LIAR!"

"I'm not." Max croaks turning me around to him. "I'm not."

"I saw it. Khivar said a lying woman had gotten you there, and you said you didn't love her that you didn't love me," I hiccup, "that you never loved me."

"I was talking about Tess."

"Tess," I squeek.

"Yes, Tess."

"But I lied to. I thought…I thought…" I stutter.

"You thought wrong then. I broke every rule and violation to get you better. If they ever found out, I could lose my son, but I would do it again, because I love you."

"You…"

"Love you," he finishes.

"But you didn't say anything." I say finally after I've gotten the ability back to speak in complete sentences.

He shrugs his shoulders.

"That's not an adequate response."

"I was operating under the assumption that you hate me."

"I don't hate you. I'm alive because of you."

"No, don't tie your feelings for me to that."

"I'm not."

"Are you sure? Have you ever thought that maybe you were with me before out of some sense of gratitude? You nearly died when your were shot and I…"

"That's crap. How could you even think that?"

"We are all prone to turn meaningless fears into meaningful ones I guess. It always boils down to the normal and the abnormal with us."

Suddenly, I feel very cold inside. "What do you mean?" I cover my hand against a yawn.

"You're tired. We can talk about this tomorrow."

"Don't brush me off." I warn. "It hurts me when you do it."

"I'm not." He strokes the side of my cheek. "Tomorrow, we'll talk more." He promises. "I'm kind of exhausted myself."

I jerk up. "You're feeling, okay?"

Creases appear in his forehead. "I'm feeling fine. Right now I just want to stay like this with you and listen to the rain."

"Okay," I sink back down.

"This kind of reminds me of that night in the desert."

"That was a good night," I say despite the lump forming in my throat.

"Yeah, it was."

"What are we doing?"

"I don't know."

"I'm scared."

"Me to."

"What if it gets bad like before?"

"It won't. Ever hear how porcupines mate?"

"How do porcupines mate?"

"Very carefully."

"HA! That's stupid."

"It was a big hit with Seth when he was four. Well at least, you're smiling."

For once with Max, I find that I actually am.


	28. The Power of Belief

Chapter Twenty Seven The Power of Belief

My eyes do not open slowly, fighting in their attempts to stay under the Sandman's spell. There is no languid, final stretch of my body before it leaves the dream world for the real one.

Like being capsized into the sea, is how I would describe it, if I ever found the courage. Limbs flaying and heart racing, I hit the icy water, and it is this shock that snaps my eyes open and turns my usually normal beating heart into that of a hummingbird's. My shallow, uneven breaths and the cold sweat trickling down the valley of my breasts round out the equation, one that I've been operating under for years.

My one on one battle with the monsters in my head.

"You're okay. It was just a nightmare. You're safe."

I find myself on Max's lap. My hands are gripping his forearms tight and are no doubt cutting off his circulation. "Don't you tell anyone."

"Liz."

"Don't you tell. Don't you…" I collapse against his chest. "Tell," I breathe out willing myself not to cry.

"Tell them what?" He starts to rub my back. "That you're the bravest woman I know."

"I'm not brave. I'm scared all the time, when I'm awake, when I'm sleeping. It will not stop."

"It's not fear. It's hurt. You hurt so badly." He kisses the top of my head. "I thought it was a miracle when you didn't remember what had happened that at least in one way you were spared. You don't know how many times I've wished for the same thing, just to be able to forget, but where I have the luxury of knowing the demons under my bed. You don't. I wish that I could take it away. Give you back what was lost, but I can't. You have to find a way to confront the hurt then there would be nothing to fear."

"How did you do it?"

"I haven't." He states simply.

"That's not true. You're in here with me."

"Caves and I have always been the best of friends. I was hatched in a cave and Khivar…" He opens and closes his mouth. A blood vein stands out in relief on his forehead.

"It's okay." I wrap my arms around his shoulders to bring him closer to me.

"Here, I'm supposed to be comforting you." He says after sometime.

"I think ours is going to be a partnered effort to mental wellness."

"Partnered effort," he repeats. His eyes find mine in the darkness. "I like that."

"Platonic partners," I blurt out quickly ignoring the many lurid scenarios playing out in my mind.

"If that's what you want."

"I don't know what I want. I mean it's pointless to want, because wants are things that are totally unpractical and out of reach."

"Then what do you need?"

"A nice little beach house in Baja Mexico." I leave out any description of the mom, dad, and son that call it home.

"I can see it now sparkling waters, sand and you, sunbathing nude. I'll be your cabana boy. I like it."

"Please," I flush.

"Please, what? I need to introduce you to one new aspect of my personality."

"Your entertaining whit, I've already grown quite accustomed to that."

"When you run, I will follow."

"Oh how sweet, I've always wanted a little puppy to follow at my heels." I know I've pushed too far in my cynicism the moment the words leave my lips. It comes as no surprise when Max pushes back, and I find myself sandwiched between the wall and Max. "This seems to be a favorite move of yours."

He says nothing.

His silence alarms me for Max the man does not seem as readily to back off as Max the boy. Strip away this nicety. What is left? Two horny people who given the chance could probably screw each other's brains out.

I inhale as I feel his finger move up an arm. A faint glow travels over my skin while an accompanying warmth begins between my legs. "I told you no."

"You told me you loved me four hours ago. Now you want to be friends, and you're trying to feed me lines of bullshit along the way."

"I love my friends."

He pulls me closer to him. "You give them all hand jobs to?"

"No, I kiss them."

His head falls to my shoulder.

"What did they do to you?"

He shudders against me.

"Tell me."

"What do you care if you're bailing?"

"I'm not bailing."

His fingers slide over my hips. "Then why does it feel like that day is happening all over again," he says not needing to clarify the day in question. Older brother to that autumn night, they exist so strongly for Max and me that any explanation became redundant long ago.

I open and then close my mouth engaging in a battle with my better judgment. My hesitation proves costly as Max misinterprets it as yet another rejection. Straightening, he pushes the vulnerability of before inward.

I press my lips together. "It was never about not loving you. It was about loving you too much. I was just a small town girl from New Mexico. We worked as long as you were a small town boy, but there was your mother…"

"Zan's mother," he corrects.

"You can dress it up anyway that you want, but you were meant to swim in a much bigger pond than I was. How was I to help you? I hadn't been raised by anyone with the knowledge of where you came from. I didn't even have any powers to protect you or myself if something happened. I was just Liz Parker. I thought she loved you as much as I did."

"Thank you."

I blink confused as to what he could possibly be thanking me for.

"I really needed to hear that." He gives my hand a squeeze.

I gasp against the heat in my abdomen rackets up a notch.

To his credit, Max looks innocent. "What?" His thumb brushes against my palm.

I bite back a moan. "Don't you feel that?"

"No," he says almost sadly. Laying his palm flat against mine, his fingers slide down the slits of my own.

For an instant, I feel something distinctly foreign but not unknown hovering in the back of my mind, but the seed withers the second his fingers fall from mine.

"I don't feel much of anything anymore." He tells me backing away. "My mind was damaged."

"Damaged how?"

He only begins to answer after safely engaging himself in playing with some object he's pulled from his bag. "This is and that," he says vaguely. "I've never been much for conversations. Unfortunately, for me, my fellow Antarians are very adept at provoking conversations. Luckily as Zan's mind and mine started to intermingle, I came up with ways to ignore certain conversations."

"What ways?"

He smacks down on the item in his hands.

"What ways?"

"Why is it important?"

"Defining the monster."

"I know the monster."

"Who's bailing on whom now?"

"You want details. Fine," he gets another object to play with from his bag. "Khivar saw every smile, every kiss, every moment that ever happened between you and me, because I wasn't strong enough in the beginning to stop him." He finishes morosely.

"You were just a defenseless kid. He was the wolf who had the lamb cornered."

"This is conversation is doing wonders for my masculinity."

"Stroking your ego is next week's discussion."

"I have something else you can stroke in the interim."

I hold back my snide retort realizing the trigger behind his explicitness, one that began the night I let him think that he was not man enough to have me. My thoughts blur imagining all the ways Khivar used my blunder against Max.

He cups my knee, "bad joke." For all his posturing, his hands do not venture upwards.

I allow myself a couple seconds of disappointment before pressing on. "When Seth is scared, whom does he go to?"

"Me."

"So, you would say that he expects you to protect him?"

"Yes, I would die for him."

"He lives with you?" I ask hating the twinges of jealousy developing.

"Of course he lives with me, Liz…"

"In a home that you pay for yourself?" I interrupt.

"In a home that I own."

"And the furniture, his toys, his pet, who bought those?"

"I did."

"Do you love your son?"

His response is an empathetic yes.

"Now, tell me how old you were when he was born?" The old customary pain associated with any thought of Seth's birth comes back with a vengeance.

"Please stop."

"Answer the question."

"I was eighteen."

"And did you have any of those things then?"

"No, I had nothing."

"Except your love for him," I finish. "You could have handed him off to someone to raise when you got free of Khivar, but you didn't. You worked to establish a life for him with a house he could grow up in. It didn't happened overnight. The same way an already made man doesn't drop from the sky. They're made, and some don't ever even get to that point. Khivar is like an animal. He acts only to satisfy himself. You ask me who the man is? You are. Whatever failure you feel, the root was youth and inexperience."

"No, not trusting you that was the root of it. I will never make that mistake again."

"You had good reason not to."

He presses his forehead to mine. "No more self recriminations. I was as much at fault. I'm so sorry."

"No more apologies. When we leave this cave, it's over and done with. We leave all the ugliness in here. It's the only way we can work on being friends again. Just promise me something, when this is over, you'll drop in from time to time and not go another eight years without seeing me. "

"I promise."

A ghost of another of Max's promises to always be my friend tries to cut in on this moment.

"It won't be like before." Max answers as if sensing my thoughts. "It won't." He says cupping my cheeks and meeting my eyes.

_"Will you stop acting like such a Barbie doll and let me concentrate Talen? Of course, it's going to work. You need to stay very quiet pregnant lady. I can get the two on the left. Can you get the two on the right?"_

I sit up startled. "Seth?"

"Seth, where?" Max looks around.

"Seth's in my head."

"That's not possible."

"It's possible. I heard him. He's with Talen somewhere. I think they're in trouble."

Max retrieves a small disc from his bag. "I'm calling Michael. Keep your eyes closed, the light from the electromagnet has been known to blind humans. I'm going to block out the sound with my powers." His hand brushes over my earlobe for a split second.

_"Run, keep running, Liz will tell my dad, and he'll come."_ Seth's voice sounds in my ears as clear as day.

"It isn't working. I can't get a signal. It could be some psychic disturbance."

I look down at both his hands. "You're not touching me."

"What?"

"I heard him again. He's scared."

"This mumbo jumbo stuff isn't happening. It's a trick."

"I say it's real so you better mumbo this jumbo and get over here. We're going to figure this out and find them and kick whatever creatures' asses are currently messing with my…your kid."

"They're playing you."

"I know what Seth's energy feels like and that was him.

"Antarian children can only forge telepathic connections to their parents. He can't connect to me because of the brain damage and connecting to Tess is totally out of the question for him. It can't happen."

"Why does the possibility that there could be something between Seth and me scare you so much? Is it because, it means I'm not longer the normal small town girl you fell in love with?"

"I'd love you if you were three feet tall and had three heads."

"You'd love what biology dictates you to love. In the end, it's all about procreation." I trail off.

"I wasn't trying to make a baby. I was just trying to forget my hurt. Everything was just off with me."

"We agreed, we'd leave it in here." I swallow.

"You're the only women I ever wanted to be with. I'm never going to marry Liz, because I can't see myself being anyone's husband but yours."

"It doesn't matter, because we're going to be friends."

"Let us agree to disagree on this point."

"What? You don't want to be my friend."

He jerks back as if I've hit him. "I did a terrible thing to you when I said I wouldn't be your friend anymore. There wasn't any worse way to hurt your heart. If you want to be just friends, I'll take it Liz. I just want you in my life. I'll do whatever you want."

"I just want to find Seth."

He touches my ear.

"Anything?"

"No."

"You were touching me, and we were talking, cementing maybe. Talking and touching is a form of cementing oneself. How the hell, do your people cement?"

"Who told you about cementing?"

"The other you. Do we need to cement?"

"It isn't something we can particularly do on the fly. It's a process. I'm too damaged to do it now anyway."

"Watch it, finding your son doesn't give you an excuse to touch my breasts."

"I was attempting to see if your breasts elicited some form of stimuli for me."

"What?"

"I like your breasts. You got flashes all the time when we looking for the orb, and I was touching your breasts."

"It isn't flashes. It's like I'm right next to him, and he's talking to me."

He stiffens. "Your necklace. It's…"

I look down. "Well, that's a new one on me. What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I never bothered to read the chronicles. I thought it was crap."

"Reading is fundamental." I turn my head to the side. "What does that look like to you."

"A necklace that is possessed and is flying off your neck in its attempts to impale me."

"It looks like a phallus."

"What the hell is a phallus?"

"Penis. My necklace likes you. Are Meaglans only women?"

"Yes."

"You need to kiss me."

"What?"

"Penis is to men as kissing is to women."

"Speak English, I was never good at those damn things."

"It's about insertion. I can only physically insert myself into you through a kiss."

"You're getting this all through your necklace acting horny."

"What if I'm like this conduit between you and Seth? I can hear things you can't hear because of what was done to you. What if I have to be close to you to hear him, because I don't have the power to hear him on my own?"

"I can't connect to you."

"Why?"

"I'm tainted. I refuse to be used as an instrument to subdue you."

"Kyle used those same words before he," I pause.

"Before he what?"

"I can't say. He used his powers on me."

"He used his powers on you. I thought you two were friends."

"It isn't like he'd hurt me. He helped me get away from Tess."

"Kyle's here?"

"Yes."

"They were supposed to go on a trip. We saw them leave. His girlfriend came home. They were running late. They got into the taxi."

"They didn't make it."

"That's just great, that bitch. You think she could leave him alone after all she did to him. It's never enough for Tess."

"Right now, we have to find Seth and then we're not letting him out of our sight. "

"Maybe, he would be better off with Isabel?"

"No, you can't send him back to Antar. You can't do that to Seth and me. He has to be here with us because that's the way it's supposed to be. "

"We'll talk about this later?" Max backs away from me.

"No, we're going to talk about this now. Seth is mine." The earth beneath starts to shake.

Max eyes shoot to the ceiling.

"You're going to take him away from me."

"Liz, you're not yourself right now."

"I'm more myself than I have ever been. We're linked and if you want to ignore it, go ahead."

"Then tell me, who's ignoring the link between us?"

Three rocks loosen themselves from the ceiling.

"Is this your master plan, crush us before we get a chance to help Seth?"

"I don't need your help."

"Oh, yes, you do lady." The timber of his voice dives about three notches while the rich brown of Max's eyes start to take on an eerie hue. "You want to fight alien. Let's fight alien."

"You don't scare me."

He laughs low and throaty.

I shiver.

"Come here."

"No."

From behind me, a seemingly invisible force pushes me into his arms. The rumbling below us ceases. His hands circle my hips before slipping his fingers through my belt loops to bring me closer. "Hey," he breathes.

"Hey, yourself," I smile.

Max grins.

I feel goofy and like we're back in high school.

"You're scary when you're pissed." He says.

"You're hot as hell." I answer before remembering myself. "A friendly hot," I amend. "I need stability. It's important and…"

"I understand."

"Good," I sigh pressing my head to his chest. "Complications" a hand to my mouth stops that thought.

A parrot caws loudly from above. It is only then I notice we're not in the cave anymore.

Max pulls me down into the tall grasses as he starts to assemble pieces from his bag.

"You brought us here?" I whisper.

"No, I think we did it together."

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know." He finishes his project and hands it to me. "This is a crubelex. You point it like this and press the button at the base. It can be used to permanently disable Scions and other hostile life forms. The laser up here shows you where the bullet is going."

"Okay."

"Pull up your shirt."

He slaps a small metal disc on my scarred tummy. "Think of this as your own private shield. Your primary objective is to duck and cover and take care of the boys."

I lean up a little to look over the grass. "Where are they? Maybe, we're at the wrong place."

"You said it was time that I believed. I do. We got here together for a reason."

"Does this mean I can teleport?"

"No, I teleport. You provided the location."

"I guess I'll have to be happy with being able to change my wall color whenever I get tired of the paint."

"That explains a lot about your apartment, I kept thinking where were you finding the time to paint every three months."

"What did you think about my place?" I find myself asking while all time wondering why his opinion should matter.

"It's warm, cozy, the section of town is a little iffy."

"It is not. It has character. "

"That it does. I've certainly seen a lot of interesting things there. Michael actually wants to move there to be close to Maria. He says it will be a good source of subject matter for his artwork."

"He really means to stay after this is over?"

"Yes."

"Good for him."

"Yeah," Max sighs before straightening up. "Thank God, Seth's coming. I recognize his footsteps. There's someone with them. Woman, I think. She's slowing them down." He turns his head. "We've got seven maybe ten hostiles. There might be a squad behind that to. I made Seth memorize the maps of this area. You'll follow him."

"I'm not leaving you here."

"I can handle this, and then I'll catch up with you. Your job is to get to the safe station and work on the virus. You'll find my computer there. If I don't meet up with you before then, the password is September 18, 1999."

"It's the day I got shot."

"It's the day my life began." His eyes meet mine. "Here, they are."

Seconds later, I get my first glimpse of Seth's head. I cover my heart, "thank you."

He ducks behind a tree as a pulse of light safely hits another some distance away. A gross miscalculation I attribute to the same source that sends a familiar green shield springing up between his son and the bad guys.

Despite Max's precautions, I'm livid. "They're shooting at Seth. I'm going to kill each and every one of them. When I'm done, I'm going to rip their hearts out."

Max grabs me roughly by the shoulders. "You are going to let me kill each and every one of them. You are only going to be ripping the hearts out of hostiles if they attack you on your way. You are going to fight smart, and only waste your energy when needed."

"Is this because I'm a girl?"

"Do you remember what happened when your shorted yourself out at the hotel? I want the best with my son." He gives me what looks to be the orb we found. "This is how Seth will find you. The hostiles can't see the beacon that it gives off. You stay here.'

"I don't like this plan."

"Noted."

"It's like your leaving me here between a rock." I lift up the orb, "and a hard place."

"Would you like some cheese with that whine?"

"Shut up."

"You shut up first."

"Just be careful."

"Always." He swings his bag over his shoulder.

I decide to focus on the orb and not his immediate departure.

"Love you."

My head snaps up, but Max's already gone. In the distance, I hear blast fire and my bravado evaporates dramatically. I squeeze the orb tight. "Alright, Elizabeth, you're going to be a strong woman today. You're going to get the kids to where they need to be, and then you will have a freak out later. Oh Maria, I need you."

A hand grabbing my leg nearly sends me screaming. I kick at the figure, but don't connect to anything.

"Liz," a voice hisses.

"Seth," I crush him to me. "Do you know how scared I was for you?"

"Liz," he wheezes. "I can't breathe."

"Right," I loosen my grip.

"Plus, this is not the time for hugs. The others are over there so follow me."

I get down on my hands and knees and crawl for what seems like miles in my heightened state. Suddenly, I barrel into Seth's butt.

He looks back at me with a death glare.

"I didn't know you were stopping."

He puts his finger over his mouth.

I get the message while he starts to mimic a parrot's caw perfectly. Hearing the obvious signal, two bodies start to come forward.

I move to try and help the obvious lagging one but am stopped by Seth.

Finally, Talen breaks through the grasses with a woman half sprawled on his back. He stares at the ground long and hard before depositing the woman on her side.

Talen's cheeks are flushed from the exertion of carrying the woman the last couple of meters. I quickly hand him a bottle of water. He shakes his head and starts speaking to Seth using some sort of sign language.

I turn my attention to the woman clad in a torn sundress of a vacationer. Her identity comes not as a surprise when I brush her blonde hair away. I bend down low to her ear. "Everything is going to be okay now Hannah."

Hearing my voice, she lifts her dilated eyes to mine. "Liz," her voice is raw. An angry bruise mars her face.

I quickly give her some water.

"Kyle?"

"We'll get him, but now we have to go."

"Kyle," she says shaking her head.

Seth motions to me to move.

I try and take Hannah's hand, but she jerks it quickly away.

"Kyle," she says again but, this time a little louder.

Seth rubs the bridge of his nose much like his father when he's irritated. Crawling back between us, he stares into Hannah's blues eyes.

She nods her head almost as if she's listening to him.

Breaking eye contact, Seth takes his spot up in front as Talen drops back behind me.

Take care of the kids. Max told me. As we set off, it appears the kids are taking care me.


	29. Reistance is Futile

Chapter Twenty Eight--- Resistance is Futile

My hands are shaking.

I can't make them stop.

There is husk skin underneath my nails and in between my fingers.

I don't know how it got there.

Red sparks of light zigzag from my palms. They are the only visible signs of the energy growing inside of me, threatening to split me open.

I hurt so much, but it does nothing to stop what has already been set in motion. For I am only the instrument not the musician, once started the song must be played out. It is how it has always been and will forever be.

I glare at the man on his knees in front of me. He doesn't struggle, because I have taken the struggle from him.

I know nothing of his identity.

Yet, I despise him with a hatred I never knew existed in me.

I meet Seth's glowing eyes, and it all becomes so clear. I hate him, because Seth hates him.

This man liked to have conversations with Max. Only he brought nice little devices to instigate his chats, devices that Seth can recall with a startling clarity.

I bend down getting on his eye level intending to have a conversation with him of my own, but the debate in front of me interrupts my attempts a nicety.

"You need to stop her right now." Talen tells him.

"You need to mind your own business." Seth answers.

I frown finding something wrong with the tone of his voice.

"Stop her, she doesn't know any better. It's your job to stop her." Talen insists. "Do you want her little girl to be bad? Is that what you want?"

"You don't know anything about the little girl." Seth hisses.

"Yes, I do. She talks to me sometimes. I know she's beautiful, sweet and kind and that I would do anything for her even try and like you, because that's what she wants."

"You're in love with someone that doesn't even exist. And I thought I topped the cake in romantic stupidity." I cackle.

"I never said I was in love with her." Talen huffs, "only humans and Antarians do that."

"If you're not capable of loving someone then you can stay away from my daughter." I answer.

"You're not going to be around to make that decision." He tells me.

"You're a liar." Seth says pushing Talen hard. "Liz is going to be around. Take it back." He demands.

Talen ducks his fist. "Why do you think the little girl is so sad all the time? She misses Liz."

"You don't know anything." Seth counters as the two of them begin to wrestle with each other.

To my dismay, I realize that Talen is gaining the upper hand. "The two of you need to cut it out this moment." I say doing my best impression of my mother after she and Kyle caught Sean and me making out in his VW. "We're all on the same team here." I roll my eyes as the two of them keep on as if I haven't said a word. "Right, you two have fun with that. I am so happy I'm having a daughter, because I don't understand boys at all."

"Amateur," my forgotten conversation buddy spits as he knocks me to the ground. "I'm actually quite disappointed. Here, you're supposed to have the eyes, which you obviously don't, or you would have put two and two together."

I don't even get a scream out, before a clear plastic bag is shoved over my head.

"Come on Liz, figure it out. Half the kings in the galaxy have a jones for you, because you're supposed to be so valuable, and yet you can't solve a simple riddle. Maybe, you're not all they say you are."

My lungs burn.

I fight to keep from passing out.

"We don't have the ocean, but I've brought it with me. Suffocation and drowning are really quite the same when you think about it. An exiting of one world for the next."

Water cascades down the outside of the bag.

A slight bulge begins to form in my palm. I try and speed up the process.

"Stop fighting it Liz. We just want you to be all that you can be. If you two boys know what's good for you, you will stay back. Scrunch your head all you like Seth, your mother has taught me to look beyond mindwarps. Next time you want to set your weapon on somebody, it might be best to tell said weapon who they're dealing with."

I grab his shoulder.

The color drains from his face as he starts to sway.

For the first time, I see the essence underneath the husk.

I see Nicholas.

There are flashes, ghastly images as he perversely goes about doing what he does best, taking away people's control to fill the lack of it in his own life.

_"You would be amazed at the freedoms that bodied people take for granted on Earth." He says looking out into the crowd that have gathered to welcome him back. "As a skin one must be prepared for anything. Husks can become defective for a variety of reasons."_

_He winces as the memory of Khivar ripping his man husk away surfaces._

_"But in the end, it's all about facing adversity. Husk, human, idiot king hybrids, they are all the same."_

_He had imagined that it would be bad but never had he been prepared for waking up in the body of a mere child._

_"You must narrow them down and never let your eyes stray from them." He thanks the audience knowing they have not heard a word that he said for theirs is a society that pays little attention to children._

_He tries not to inflict the same discourtesy on the youthful boy that wants to know all about his role in bringing the false king back to Antar. Yet, his responses are brief for she distracts him._

_Like some dark specter, she waits for him in the hall with the veils of mourning still covering her face from his view_.

_He is rude in dismissing the boy, but cannot help it. He wants to be anywhere, but in her presence. Yet by some trick of fate, she blocks the only exit._

"_Get out of my way little girl." He sneers._

_"It appears that I am no longer the littlest one."_

_"Look, I'm in this thing because of you. It's been forty years, let it go."_

_"You've ever heard of a little thing called The Code of Hamurabi during your time on Earth."_

_"No."_

_"I'll spare you the effort of looking it up. You killed my husband, my heart, and according to the code I get to kill you now."_

_"I like to see you try."_

"_What makes you think that I'm not trying? Welcome back, Nicholas."_

_How is she trying?_

_He becomes obsessed with the idea._

_And finally sees some possible implication, in a prisoner that does not fall into line even after he been sure to take away his most prized possession._

_It is an abnormality that nags him at its least and terrifies him at its worst._

_For the weak always rally around the strong._

_Little occurrences alarm him but nothing compares to the day that he notices each and every prisoner meeting his gaze as he passes their cells._

_He takes his concerns directly to Khivar._

_"So they look at you, what of it?"_

_"It's him. He's giving them hope. It could be dangerous. They're listening to him. Take him out of the general population."_

_"And what would be the fun of that?"_

_"This is not Earth."_

_"No, this Antar where_ the inmates are ten times more kinkier.'

_"But they respect him."_

_"Max is here in my prison, because he got tricked by a woman. There is nothing respectful about that." Khivar waves him off. "No one has ever escaped from Tantalus. Plus, we have his whelp. He won't go anywhere without the boy. We hold everything of value for him."_

_"And Liz?"_

_Khivar advances on him angrily. "Who told you of her?"_

_"He speaks to her all the time. It's almost like she's in the room with him."_

_"He's obviously insane. You're wasting my time."_

_But he couldn't disagree more when he finds a pool cue being pressed down over his throat._

_"Where is it?" Max demands._

_"Max come on, we don't have time for this." Michael says over his shoulder._

_"I am not leaving without it."_

_"Christ, will you prioritize? You want a picture. I'll draw you one."_

_"She gave it to me. I gave the knife back. It's the only thing left that I have that was hers." He turns his eyes back to his endeavor, "and you are going to tell me what you've done with it."_

_He flinches as he sees her enter._

_A pale hand emerges out from beneath the many black veils that cover her form. "You know what I like about Earth?" She turns the drill on. "Power tools, with exceptionally powerful heads. This one can even drill through husks.."_

_"We are never going to get out of here."_

_"So leave Michael no one is stopping you." She leans down next to Nicholas. "Where is Liz Parker's picture?"_

_"I destroyed it."_

_"Wrong answer."_

_He blacks out only to be revived by Khivar much later._

_"You just let them walk right out of the door?"_

_"I was not in a position to stop them between the many holes your daughter drilled into me."_

_"She did this?"_

_The look of pride in Khivar's eyes disgusts him. He clinches his fist only to find his hands are much bigger._

_"It became necessary to plant you into another husk." Khivar hands him a mirror. "Say hello to the new you."_

_Even though he finds it perverse, he misses his old face._

The flashes end.

Air's cool touch hits my face as the bag is ripped from my face.

I sit motionless. My brain is on overload.

"I knew you were nothing." He waves his hand in front of my face. "You're as much a fraud as he is." He turns to Seth. "You're good. You know that kid? You've got the entire universe convinced that she's the genuine article. You want to be powerful Seth. You want to have a name that will live forever. Then stop trying to hitch your wagons to a mule and try the filly that you were born to. You belong with Tess."

I add my two cents to the conversations by tackling him from behind and clamping my hands down against his spinal cord. "Let's get one thing straight. Seth is mine, not Tess's."

His eyes widen. "You're right. I didn't mean to insult you. I'm sure that something can be worked out between the two of us."

"I'm not interesting in working things out."

He squirms as his left arm turns to dust. I'm starting to set to work on the second when I'm thrown some distance by a presence made up of thousands of little orange lights.

Enraged, I watch as Nicholas slink off with another light entity hard on his heels.

The orange light presses me down.

I see Seth running toward me. He's screaming something.

I can't make it out.

My arms flail hitting nothing but air.

The back of my head hit the earth hard again.

It is only then I make out a shape beneath the light.

I knee the form hard in what would be the balls of any human man and am swiftly rewarded when I feel the presence jerk back from me.

I don't know how I get him on the ground, but get him on the ground I do. "How does it feel now? Why can't all of you just leave me the hell alone?"

It makes a sound of pain.

"Liz." Its voice is low and guttural.

"Liz," Seth huffs. "There's been a mistake."

"What do you mean there's been a mistake?" I curse myself silently when I realize I've taken my eyes off whomever I have below me. I put them back on the creature only to find that I'm on top of Michael Guerin.

"Liz," Seth says sternly. "Michael is our friend."

I study Michael carefully. "And you know this how?"

"I suggest you get off me, before I make you get off me."

"Are you threatening me Michael?"

"Are your hormones on the fritz or something?" Michael asks.

"Let me handle this. Liz, please get off Michael." Seth begs. "He isn't going to hurt you."

"They're all out to hurt me. It's what they do. They wind me up and see how far I'll go."

"I'm really sorry about that. Nicholas grabbed me and hurt me and that made me mad. He used to hurt daddy all the time and that just made me madder. I thought you knew it was Nicholas. I forgot you're not really like us, but you act like us. You smell like Mercedes', and Deva's mom. And it's really hard. I'm really confused when I'm around you." "Liz," he snaps frustrated. "You are going to listen to me."

"No, I'm not. I am tired of being ordered around by everyone. He had a plastic bag over my face. A plastic bag." I breathe out as I'm grabbed from behind.

"Don't you hurt her." Seth warns.

I look down to find that Michael has conveniently disappeared from beneath and is no doubt holding me. My eyes fall back to Seth. "This is not a good way to get my trust. Maybe, you think my trust isn't warranted, because I'm not alien enough to be in the club."

"Seth go back and get Talen and the woman." Michael says gently.

Seth advances on me in a panic. "Liz, you're not acting like yourself. Please, you have to understand." He pulls frantically on my shirt. "What are you doing to her? She's making a hurt face."

"She's not making a hurt face."

"But you're hurting her."

"I hurt her. You dad will rip me into shreds. Maria will pick up where he leaves off followed by Serena and Larek, because everyone is on the Liz love boat. Go get them Seth. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get your dad to do whatever he has to do to make her better."

"How is dad going to make her better?"

"I don't know give her a giant Midol pill or bang her brains out." Michael says under his breath.

"Seth, don't you leave me with Michael." I yell at his retreating figure.

"You need to calm the hell down." Michael says. "He has enough problems as is with wonky women making him feel like shit."

"Don't you dare put that on me. You and Isabel let Tess in. You let her in and kept me out when she did nothing to prove herself, and I did everything."

"Do the words get over it mean anything to you."

I slump in arms as if I've been physically slapped. "Just let me go. I'll sit right here. I'm tired, and I'm scared. I had a plastic bag shoved over my head by a lunatic."

His arms drop away from my waist.

I take a seat on a rock and wait. "Will Seth be okay by himself?"

"I wouldn't have let him leave otherwise."

"But Nicholas?"

"Is being chased to the ends of the Earth by a very pissed off female. If you had killed him that pissiness would have transferred over to you. She has been waiting for nearly fifty years to stick it to him. Killing him as become a sort of life's work of hers, one that I worry that she won't be able to function without."

"The lady in the veils."

"How did you know about that?"

"I'm part alien now. Surprise! Have you heard from Seth's father? Is he okay?"

"Still not doing the first name thing, I see."

"How did you know about that?"

"No, need to get your panties in a wad over it Liz." He kicks up a bit of dirt with the toe of his boot. "Screw it, I wasn't going to get involved in this. Hell, Isabel gave me strict instructions to let the two of you sort this out on your own."

"There is nothing to sort out."

"Know this, the whole not saying his name thing bothers him. No, I don't think bothers accurately captures it. It hurts of the ripping your heart out kind of variety, and he's had just about everything else ripped out of him. So, I would appreciate it if…"

Without any conscious thought, I flick my wrist and watch as Michael falls hard on his ass. "You are not my friend, because you made that choice. So don't you come over and try and give me advise."

"You were dangerous. She was just annoying."

"What?"

"Tess, you wanted to know why we let her in. She was like this mosquito that buzzed around our ears whining about some four square sex thing we weren't ever going to follow." He looks at me, "sorry. Try and understand. He broke our oath for you and then he was always out with you. He was never with us anymore. It pissed us off. The rules were changing, and you were changing them. We were nothing without him. He was our leader. Destiny kept him with us. You would have ended up taking him away from us."

"I wasn't trying to take him away from you. I just wanted to love him."

"We didn't see that then. What can I say? We were selfish. We had always had Max. I don't think we had ever expected that there wouldn't be a time when we wouldn't be first on his priorities. Chalk it up to our greatest regret. Not only did our short sightedness let someone far worse come between us, we helped push away the only person he ever really loved or will love."

I hug my knees to my chest.

"I'm talking about you by the way."

I glare at him.

"Just wanted to be sure, and you weren't listening with your self effacing ears. So, there you go. Do with it what you well." He looks passed me. "You do realize that fifteen minutes to cover what you had to cover is totally unacceptable?"

I turn to see both boys looking down at their shoes.

"You were fighting again, weren't you?"

Neither boy abandons the apparent interesting study of their footwear.

"I get there's a personality conflict. I really do. Plus, Antarians and Creusians have been at each other throats, since time began. But you two need to drop it, right now. We're in a war zone. We're you fighting when Nicholas attacked Liz? Speak up boys. I can't hear you. "

"Yes." They answer.

"A solider does not let personal vendettas distract him when on the field of battle."

I open my mouth to say that they're children not soldiers but close it just as fast when Michael shoots me a dirty look.

"When you're out here," Michael continues motioning around him. "You are a wall, nothing gets past you, and nothing comes leaking out. Is that clear?"

Both boys nod.

"And one more thing Seth," his eyes land on Hannah. "Next time, you want to organize a rescue mission. You speak to the commander in charge. You don't mindwarp said commander and go running off without telling him where you're going."

"I guess that was bad of me." Seth inserts.

"You think." Michael answers.

"But I had a good reason."

"Lady in distress. I get it. Who is this woman?"

"Kyle's girlfriend. They grabbed her and Kyle." I take Hannah's hand in the wake of the sudden emotion I feel. "I think she's suffering from post traumatic stress."

"No, they drugged her to the gills. Look like feanide, which is good. It won't have any effect on the bun in the oven."

"What?" I ask.

"There's a baby in her tummy." Seth clarifies.

"How do you know this?" I wonder.

"She smells bad." Talen tells me.

"Really bad." Seth adds.

"So pregnant women stink?"

"To other males yes, to the father of said child no." Michael answers.

"Why?

"I'm not a Antarian Ed teacher. Let's get a move on class."

"But she'll be okay, right?" I ask.

I expect Michael to make another wisecrack at my expense. I feel he's definitely on the verge of doing so when he does the strangest thing. He holds back and pats my shoulder awkwardly. "She'll be fine. We'll take her to Serena. Serena will do her thing. Hannah will be knitting baby booties in no time."

"Can Serena help me? Um, something just doesn't feel right with me."

"We need to go now." He answers in a clipped tone.

"Right," I answer reading through the lines of his rudeness.

I'm in trouble, a lot of it.

I take in stride.

I really do right through the jungle and the accompanying car ride. I'm completely at peace with it as we reach a compound high in the mountains.

I take the news that Max isn't there well, all things considered.

I adequately brief Serena about everything I know about Hannah's condition.

It's only when I see Maria, Brian, and Mani waiting on the porch that it all goes to hell, and I start crackling like the fourth of July.

I try to duck out of sight, but don't make it pass the Deluca eagle eye.

She bolts of the stairs clearly intent on giving me a hug but is stopped in her tracks by my personal light show. "Liz, you're okay." Her statement comes out more like a question.

"I'm fine." I glue on a fake smile. "You're okay?"

She nods never lifting her eyes up from my hands.

I turn to Brian. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to. I wasn't certain how you would react."

"You're skin is sparking," is all he says. "Maria told me you could do things. I would have never believed her if I hadn't just found out that aliens exist, and I was in the middle of an alien war." He turns to science to combat his disbelief. "Are you blood cells still even normal?"

"Yes, my cells are normal." My shoulders sag.

"Do you think it could be your brain waves then?"

"I don't know."

"Parker, you're telling me you haven't even thought to cataloguing your biological anomalies?"

"I've never really been into seeing myself as a scientific experiment worth cataloguing."

"That's not what I meant."

"Okay," I nod. "Will you three excuse me? I need to go and wash up a little."

I walk away from them feeling somewhere in between dejected and disgusting.

"ISABELLA," Mani calls behind me.

I stop dreading this exchange knowing that Mani has never been the most sensitive of people.

He reaches me red faced from the exertion. Large sweat stains hang from his armpits. "My wife's right. Soy gordo. I just wanted to say that you shouldn't worry. You have a good soul, and God will still let you into heaven."

"I could have told you that."

This time my smile isn't an act as I look over my shoulder to see Max. "Hey."

"I would have gotten here sooner if I knew you were going to smile at me like that."

"And who are you for Isabella to be smiling at?" Mani asks pointedly.

"Mani," I admonish. "This is a good friend of mine M---." I clear my throat.

"Max Evans," Max says quickly rescuing me from, well, myself.

Mani stares suspiciously at Max's outstretched hand. "Has he been behaving himself Isabella?"

"Yes, very much."

"Bueno," he takes Max's hand. "Emanuel Sanchez," he says warmly. "I'm glad you're here Max. Now you can get Isabella out of the field and make a real woman out of her."

"Mani," I snap.

"What?" He pulls out a cigarette and lights it. "People just think that I'm big, dumb and fat, but I have eyes. I didn't have eyes about the aliens. You know about the aliens Max?"

"Yeah, I'm well acquainted with them."

He takes a drag of his cigarette. "One of them had me cornered in the lab. It was not looking good and then Lena came crashing down from the ceiling and killed him with these two giant knives. She got me out and found a driver to take me here. Is she an alien Max?"

"Does it really matter?" Max asks.

"No, I guess not. Well, I will leave you two to smile at each other." He grins.

"He has some nerve." I scoff when Mani is safely out of earshot.

"I've always really liked him."

"You have?"

"He kind of reminds me of Michael, if Michael was twenty years older, fifty pounds heavier, and Mexican. He isn't the most pc of people, but he has heart, and he isn't false."

"I guess you're right." I throw my arms around him.

He stiffens momentarily before relaxing.

"Is it against the law to hug royalty?"

"No," his arms slide around my waist. "You're upset," he mummers into my hair.

"Yes," I say closing my eyes enjoying the feeling of Max around me.

"Did something happen in the jungle?"

"Yes, but everyone's safe. I'll talk about it with you. I promise, but not now. I just want to stay like this." My little peace of heaven is shattered by a small body inserting itself into the middle.

"Seth," Max says sternly.

"What?" Seth asks innocently. "We're hugging again, right? I like being in the middle. It's like it's a Seth sandwich then, and there's never been a full Seth sandwich. It's always been a half of a Seth sandwich."

Max blinks clearly pained. For a man who prides himself on being normal, I can only imagine the idea that his son would not be having a 'normal' family life would be a bitter pill for him to swallow.

I lay my head on his shoulder. "I know what you're thinking and don't." I tell him. "He has all he needs in you."

"Do you know what I'm thinking to Liz?" Seth asks.

"That you would like me to stop talking, so you can be the meat in the Seth sandwich again."

He beams. "How did you do that?"

"Because Liz is special Seth, very special," Max answers solemnly.

Seth frowns. "I did something bad today daddy."

Max's eyes narrow.

"Don't look at me like that daddy, it makes it hard to tell you."

"You need to tell me."

"Okay," Seth covers his eyes with his hand and starts talking in a rapid fire of Antarian.

With every second that passes, I feel Max's arm grow tighter around my waist.

"So that's what happened." Seth says finally finishing while I struggle not to suffocate in Max's grasp.

"I don't know…what to say." Max stumbles over his words. "I just don't--- kn kn kn--" he stutters.

"Daddy."

I stand up on my tiptoes and cup his ice-cold cheeks in my hands. "Look at me, we're fine."

"Nnn," he stutters.

"Daddy, what's wrong?"

"Seth, go get Michael." I say with a calmness I do not feel.

"No, I'm just going to stay here and help you instead."

I get him moving with the force of one look. It's only when he's long gone that I begin to rethink the logic of sending him and whatever information he might possess away. I bite down on my bottom lip hard pissed beyond belief at my knee jerk response.

I turn my attention back to what matters. "You're hyperventilating. Mirror my breaths. In and Out. Just keep your breaths even for me. Good.

Good takes a detour when Max's legs give out. My attempts to hold him up end with both of us falling to the ground.

I move quickly out from underneath him.

His hand shakily closes over mine. "Don…don…don't go." He grits out.

"I'm not going anywhere. Look at me. You have to look at me. Don't you dare close your eyes."

And to his credit, he never does.

And to mine, I try and understand the albatross around his neck or more precisely the crown on his head. "What is with Seth mind warping people not to see us, and why can't we get him a doctor?" I ask as Michael helps Max to lie down.

"Because, it's a secret," Seth answers snuggling up to Max's side.

"A secret," I repeat.

"Any information regarding Max's condition in the wrong hands could compromise everything." Michael explains turning Max's bag over and spilling the contents everywhere.

"Is this really what you want?" I ask Max.

He nods his head slowly.

"I want to go on record and say I don't agree with this at all. You can't just sit back and do nothing, because you want to protect your throne. You never even wanted it to begin with. You could come back to Earth. The Antarian doctors could treat you then, and you wouldn't have to hide it, because it wouldn't matter anymore. You could go to college and be somebody."

"But daddy is a somebody," Seth answers. "And why would we want to come to live here?" He asks scrunching up his face in obvious disgust.

I wince feeling like I've traveled back in time to the moment after Max's mother's infamous breeding decree. I try hard to handle it better this time around. "I'm sorry." I say to Max. "I wasn't thinking. You are somebody. Who am I to give advise or meddle in what you've got going?" I drop my head to cover my burning cheeks. "I'm not really needed here, so I think I'm going to go before I really offend you all."

I'm shocked when Michael ushers me to a chair and whispers, "We're just window dressing here, you're the window."

Right, I'm the window.

A window that was about to flake out again.

It's truly lovely how try as I might, I'm right back where I've started feeling useless and completely out of my element in the great alien abyss.

I grunt in the wake of a small body jumping onto my lap. "A little warning as to when you're going to do that would be nice."

"Then I wouldn't get to see you make a surprise face." Seth tugs my arms around his waist while giving me the explicit command that I am to hug him this instant.

"You have to be the bossiest little boy I've ever met."

"What is bossiest?"

With the newly acquired knowledge of the definition, he takes great pleasure in telling me that if he is the bossiest little boy than I'm the bossiest lady he's ever met. "You're even worse than the lady who talks too fast."

Michael cracks a smile in the midst of unwrapping a bundle from Max's bag that reveals several leaves. He rips a piece of one of the leaves off and feeds it to Max. He explains without me even having to ask that the leaves come from a tree native to both Antar and Earth. "It helps to calm him down among other things."

After sometime, Max begins to speak again and asks both Michael and Seth to leave him for a while.

"I don't want to go. I want to stay here with you and Liz." Seth whines stubbornly.

"Please, do this for daddy."

"Okay, fine." He grumbles, "but if anything happens. You come get me Liz. You come get me before you even go and get Michael."

"I will." I tell him.

Michael lingers in the doorway.

"It's all right Michael. I'm fine now." Max says.

He nods once and closes the door.

"You should know that Seth only likes Antar, because it's what he knows. This is only his second time on Earth. Don't take his opinion of Earth as his opinion of you as well." Max tells me.

"It's what I've said. I'm just a novelty to him. I'm cool with it."

"And it's what I've always told you back, that no you aren't. I know my son. He's nothing if not constant."

Leaning over him, I brush his hair away from his forehead.

He flinches in the wake of my touch.

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," he whispers. "I'm getting a headache." He waves his hands, and the curtains magically draw close on their own.

"You need to sleep. I'll just be right here when you wake up."

"I don't sleep."

"Do you want me to go?"

"No."

"You're freezing. You need a blanket. I'll get you one." "

"No, I need what I've always needed, just you."

"You have me. I'm your friend. You know that."

His eyes move to the popcorn ceiling.

"Anything you need, you just have to ask."

His eyes come down quickly to me. "Anything?"

I swallow hard at the suggestiveness in his voice. "Yes, anything," I find myself saying despite my better judgment.

"Let me hold you."

"While you're in the bed?"

"No, while I'm standing on my head."

"I don't want to crowd you. It's a small bed."

"It's a king sized bed, Liz."

"Oh really, it looks a lot smaller. It must be an optical illusion. The chair and mirror are in the wrong place if they --"

"Why is it that you can hug me, but I can't hold you? What's the difference?"

I sit there stunned for a moment by his directness. "We would be in a bed together."

"I'm not going to make a move on you, unless you want me to."

I fold my arms around my waist.

"Is that what you're afraid of? That you might want me to?"

"My how you let your arrogance run wild."

"No wilder than you let your fear run."

"You're not doing a very good job of getting me into bed with you."

"Don't have much to work with really. We're miles away from civilization so that takes wine and dine off the list. I have the motor functions of a slug right now, so I can't yank you in here and convince you to stay with the many lurid things I want to do to and with your body."

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Talking like that."

"I'm speaking the truth."

"That is not the truth."

"I can't help if it you're taking my truth and filing it away as an untruth until you're ready to deal with it as being true. Liz, please," he turns those magnificent eyes of his on me at full watt. "Having you in my arms is like no other feeling in the world."

"Don't say that." I beg.

"Why?" He challenges. "Why should I have to pretend that I don't want you, don't crave you, don't need you?"

"We can get our friendship back. You said you wanted to be friends?"

"I do more than anything."

"Then you can't say these things to me."

"Why?"

"Because it's exactly what messed us up before. It always messes everything up."

"Or makes it a hundred times better."

"I like not being angry with you." I say quietly. "I'd rather not go back to that."

"I like not being angry with you to, and I don't want to go back to that either."

"And that's why we need to be just friends. We didn't work as more. You have to see that."

"Look me in the eye and tell me, you're satisfied with your life, and there's nothing missing from it."

"My parents are missing from it."

He swallows. "You're right. I'm sorry. "

"I shouldn't have said that. That was a low blow."

"It was a truthful blow." He answers his features already beginning to form into his pod person mask.

"No---no---please don't start acting aloof with me again."

"You don't want me to be aloof, but you don't want me to be me. Please help me out here, because I'm not following exactly who you want me to be."

"My friend, I just want you to be my friend and not to ditch me when something more alluring comes up."

"You're not talking about us, are you?"

"No."

"What did Sean do to you?" Max's voice turns lethal.

"I never dated Sean. We made out a couple times after you left, but that was it."

"Then who was he?"

"He was just a friend," I say of Kyle. "He met her while he was with me, nothing happened till after he broke things off. That's what he said, and I believe him. It was never the same afterwards. He keeps his distance for the most part now. I don't know why. I'm over it really."

"I believe you're over him, but I don't believe you're over the hurt he inflicted upon your self esteem or your trust. Come here," he says patting the mattress beneath him. "I'll be a perfect gentleman. Scout's honor."

"You were never a boy scout."

"Then trust me."

"I do."

"You don't with your heart, but you will. I can be patient."

The conviction in his voice gives me goose bumps.

"Now come here," he says softly, "and let me hold you."

I try to resist but find that much like the Borg, resistance to Max is futile.

And that in itself is terrifying.


	30. Past's Prisoners

Chapter Twenty-Nine (Past's Prisoners)

I am in control.

My situations do not control me.

I stand my ground even in the face of a wily opponent that according to a tarot card reader was to give me all the happiness, love, and not to mention sex in the world.

I cannot waver, will not waver.

I am a creature that thrives on being in control.

For those who control, keep from getting smashed.

I tell this to my therapist all the time.

Who in turn responds that those that do not court a possible smashing never really love.

But I don't need to really love.

I just need to be safe and laying here next to Max is anything but.

"Did you know your face might just stay permanently like that if you keep that up?"

I give him an incredulous look.

"I guess that humor works only on a seven year old."

"You tell that to Seth?"

"Yes, he gets all these frowns when he's thinking hard about something, and I personally think there's really nothing he should be thinking that hard about being that he's seven."

"But he's your son."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, that I bet you pondered some weighty issues as well in your day."

"Yes, I did. You would think with that knowledge I would have been able to make things easier for him." He sighs.

"It has nothing to do with your parenting. You are a good father."

He doesn't look convinced.

"He adores you. It's in his genes to be a worrier. That's all it is."

"You appear to be plagued by the same condition. Is being here with me that bad for you?"

"Not everything I think about concerns you. Hey, what are you doing?"

"Moving closer, since you don't have a problem then I don't have to give you your space." He grins.

"You're crowding me." I answer scooting back in an attempt to maintain some barrier of decorum between us.

"I thought so."

"I wasn't thinking about you." I insist.

"Do you know your cheeks turn the prettiest shade of pink when you're flustered?"

"You don't fluster me."

"If you say so."

"I say so."

"I bet you do." He challenges.

I glare at him.

"Now, now Lizzie," He says tinting my nickname with a rather dark and erotic undertone.

"I want to talk about your illness."

"Well, I don't. It will ruin the mood of you and me in the bed."

"There isn't any mood to ruin. We aren't doing anything."

"That's what an imagination is for."

"Well, how about imagining this? You telling me what triggered this. Is it that you don't trust me?"

"You are the only one that I trust, one hundred percent." He answers fiercely. "I just want a couple more minutes to imagine. Give that to me," he begs.

"Because imagining us having sex is such a thrill for you." I deadpan.

"I'm not imagining that. I'm picturing what it would be like to wake up to you every morning."

My throat closes up at his claim. "But you don't sleep." I answer in an attempt to poke holes in his fantasy. "Plus, they're billions of light years between our mutual quarters." I add as his idea starts to wrap around me with an alarmingly tight grip. "And---"

"Shh," he interrupts. "I've just gotten to the part where the sun is shinning in your hair making the deep brown streaks in it look almost auburn."

Why couldn't he just be talking about us going at it like rabbits?

I could have chalked it up easily to him being a guy who, like any other, thinks about sex every other second and that would have been the end of it.

Yet, I can't explain away the love he's had for my hair with cynicism.

It was the one little piece of me that was his and his alone.

One could even argue it was as intimate as it got for a pair of fumbling virgins that never even made it to third base.

It was the part that I punished with a brutal vengeance after he left.

I watch him warily for my little Max has become quite the crafty one.

He is going to fight like hell to keep me from writing him off.

"In the future, you can spare me your poetic verse about how wonderful my hair is." I tell him.

"Do you ever get tired of constantly pretending that nothing stirs your heart?"

"I don't need my heart to be stirred by you."

"I think that you need a lot of things to be stirred by me." He answers suggestively.

"Welcome back, I wondered where the rake went."

"Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."

"I told you what I wish for. I want us to be friends and for you, and Seth to come and visit me if you're around. I can cook for you two. My hobby is Italian cooking. You'd really like my spaghetti."

Take the invitation Max.

Please don't ditch me, because I'm not going along with what you want.

Please don't ditch me like you did before.

"I'd like that."

I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding.

"You thought I would said no, didn't you."

"Of course not, why would I?"

"Liz."

"Maybe, I did a little." I admit.

"This is about before."

"No, I understand why things happend the way they did, and I'm okay with everything, honest. We don't have to rehash it anymore."

"We do until it stops coming into play. My judgment was clouded by my hurt, by my anger, by Alex, by everything. I'm not trying to make excuses. I'm just trying to get you to understand that I have not been that mean spirited person that gave you the ultimatum of what would happen if you went against me in years. You are entitled to your thoughts and your opinions. You can even tell me to got to hell if you want."

"I think I already did that." I grin.

"And you looked really hot doing it may I add." He smiles back. "The point is that I've lived life without you, and that's not a life I want to live. So if you want to feed me spaghetti I'll be more than happy to show up."

"You'll have to bring the wine. I like white by the way."

"I think I can manage that."

"What is your life like?" I ask in attempt to keep this sharing thing going that we've seemed to have struck up.

"Busy, I work a lot. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in paperwork, but I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing. I like the organizing, planning, and implementing of public policy. Khivar ran my world into the ground, but I'm fixing it, making it better."

"You always were a healer."

"I haven't thought of myself as that in a long time."

"You can't heal anymore, can you?"

"No." He says softly. "I know you thought I wasn't doing it on purpose."

"Because you hated me so much that you didn't want to connect to me." I voice.

"I never hated you. There was anger, but there was never hate." He pauses looking uncomfortable. "Did you hate me? I understand if there were times that you did." He is quick to say.

"No, I don't think that I did. There was anger like you said and hurt. I really don't want to talk about this anymore. There's no point. Will you tell me what happened to your healing ability?"

"I let it go. It was a rather devastating departure, but it didn't go far, which made it easier to deal with." He answers cryptically. "I've gotten to the point where I don't even miss it." He feigns a smile.

"Healing can take many forms."

"Yes, it can."

"So when you're not running your world, what do you do?"

"I fly. The first time I was in a plane I knew it was where I belong. There's just something about being up there surrounded by the stars or flying along the surface. I can't describe it."

"I bet it's beautiful. The flashes I got from you. They were amazing."

"Imagine, what it's like when the plane actually doesn't crash. Would you come flying with me?"

"On your planet?" The possibilities that rush through my head seem equally endless and terrifying.

He takes my silence as disfavor toward his planet. "We can do it around Earth."

"No, I just never thought I could go to your planet."

"Do you want to go to my planet?"

"Could I actually breathe there? Earth's atmosphere nearly killed Seth."

"It wasn't just Earth's atmosphere. Seth and Tess were incompatible."

"Like an Antarian form of blood poisoning."

"I guess you could say that."

"Is that why she is the way she is with him?"

"She is the way she is with him, because she's a manipulating, vindictive bitch."

"That doesn't explain it."

"It explains it quite well for me. Seth was the means to an end. That's all he was to her, and when he couldn't get her the power she craved, she threw him away. Now, she's somewhere out there kicking herself, because he is powerful just not in the way she expected. "

"I get the distinct impression that she's letting you raise him and will swoop back in when she feels the time is right."

"He won't have anything to do with her. He has a much stronger mind than I ever had. There's no way she could ever mess with his head." "

"But she's messed with his heart. She's hurt him so much. Couldn't she have loved him just a little bit? He has so much to offer. He's got such an inquisitive mind and is so stubborn. We're always fighting about who is going to protect whom. I always say it's my job, because I'm the adult. He's always saying it's his, because he's the boy." I grin. "He's delightful. He would have been the apple of any mother's eye."

"Tess isn't his mother."

"Well, she certainly shown that. I realize she wasn't raised to be human, but I highly doubt, that your planet is populated by mothers that try and run their children off the road."

"No, you're not understanding what I'm saying. I don't even know if I understand it. Liz, I think you and Seth are---."

We both jump as the door slams open, and a small body hits the space between us.

Seth gives me a rare smile. "Hi."

"Hi, yourself. That looked like fun."

"It was."

"Seth."

He perks up immediately recognizing the slight testiness in Max's tone. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Max answers softening his voice, "but we need to have an Earth lesson right now." He strokes the top of Seth's head. "Now, if you ever see a closed door, you knock first and ask if you can come in. You don't just barge in."

"That's a stupid rule. I never have to do that at home." He looks at me quizzically.

"Yes, but we're not at home. We're on Earth." Max explains.

"Do people actually do this on Earth, Liz?"

"Yes." I answer

"Why?"

"So they don't interrupt something.'

"Did I interrupt something?"

"Nothing important."

"Liz and I were talking." Max clarifies.

"I guess that was important." Seth says.

"Sweetie, it's fine." I offer.

"Because now you know." Max adds shooting me a pointed glance.

"And, I'll do it here, but I'm not doing it at home. I never had to before, and I'm not doing it now." He settles down in between us.

"But if Liz comes to visit us, you'll have to do it then, because you wouldn't want Liz to think you were not polite, now would you?"

"You're coming to visit us?" Seth nearly squeals.

"Maybe honey," I answer as it dawns on me the real reason behind Max's Earth lesson, and it has nothing to do with interrupting conversations. Despite my ire about his complete arrogance in disregarding my repeated assumption as to the definition of our relationship, I can see the practicality of what he's doing. Human couples have bedtime. Max has a child that never sleeps and who has seen enough of everything in my opinion to last him a lifetime. There needs to be some sort of protection there. I pat his head wondering why this appears to be a novelty, but it is something I choose not to linger on. "I don't think there's going to be a lot of closed doors for you to contend with, since friends don't have conversations behind closed doors."

"But the door was closed just now." Seth answers.

"Yes, it was, wasn't it." Max says. "It's just like you said Liz. Seth is such an observant boy."

"Shut up, Your Highness."

"Come over here and make me."

"Grow up," I poke him playfully in the side.

Max says something to Seth in Antarian.

I detect the faint trace of something almost conspiratorial in their posture. "Are you two plotting something?" I ask.

"Yep, yep we are." Seth answers.

"Seth," Max admonishes. "You're supposed to say 'no.'"

"No, that would be a story daddy. I don't tell stories anymore. I'm a Jedi now. So I must tell you watch out Liz." He runs his fingers over my stomach.

I have no clue what he's doing.

"You're supposed to be laughing. Why isn't she laughing daddy? I'm tickling her wrong, aren't I?" He asks turning his head away from me giving me the perfect opportunity to get him back.

"Liz," he giggles.

I continue in my sneak attack tickling his side. "So you thought you could tickle me and get away with it?"

"YES!" He laughs his face turning red.

"Well, you can't, can't can't, but there's always daddy." I stop tickling Seth.

"Daddy is quite fine watching the two of you have all the fun."

"So daddy plots but can't stand the heat in the kitchen, I don't think that's fair."

"No, it isn't." Seth chimes in. The two of us start to crawl toward him on all fours.

"Daddy is resting." Max tries.

"You've rested enough." I answer as we descend on him.

Our attack is short-lived as we get only a couple of good tickles in before Max's arms come around us effectively pinning our bodies on either side of him.

"This sure is nice." Max smiles. "Don't you think that this is nice?"

Nice, my breasts are pressed up against his chest. A chest that through my repeated contact with I can surely say now is in fact as well defined or even more defined than it was in high school.

I am in control.

Despite, the way my nipples are hardening painfully against my bra, and the lurid fantasies running through my head.

"Let me go now." I tell him all playfulness gone from my voice.

"Say, please."

"That is one word you will never hear me say to you."

He lifts his head brushing his lips deliberately against my ear. "You'll say it someday. I can guarantee it Ms. Parker." He promises releasing me to focus on Seth but not before his hand strays for a second to cup my rear.

I smack him. "You ever do that again, and I'll blast you."

"It's worth the risk." He says playing some blasting game of his own that he seems to have devised with Seth.

"Well it won't be if you're minus a hand, now would it?"

"And here, I always thought you were a big fan of my hands and what I can do with them."

"Arrogance is and will never be an attractive trait on you."

A grimace that I immediately recognize as not being part of Max's repertoire of play-acting grazes his brow. "All right, that puts an end to the father and son wrestling hour."

"But Liz," Seth whines.

"I'm fine," Max tells me, which I don't buy for a second, but if he wants to stay in bed all day because of overexertion that's not my problem. Yet, it feels like my problem, which not only pisses me off greatly but also leaves me strangely disconcerted. I tug at my hair angry how I seem to keep falling into some sort of vibe with the two of them despite my best efforts.

"Ah Liz, turn that frown upside down." Max hauls me backward causing my head to land once again on his well-toned chest.

"I'm trying to be sensible."

"Be sensible later."

"But I'm a scientist. Scientists are always sensible."

"Well, I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up." Seth announces sitting down just above my head.

"That's something really good to try and be." I answer.

"I'm not trying to be a doctor. I'm going to be a doctor. I saw it. I help the sick and help babies get out of their mommies' tummies."

"When did you see this?" Max asks sounding a little weirded out as any parent would be I guess at having a child that can actually tell the future.

"Today," he nods.

"Doctor Seth Evans, I like that. It has a nice ring to it." I smile.

"The strangest thing happens when I help the people. They start to like me and stop thinking I'm like Tess."

"You're not like Tess." Both Max and I say in unison.

"You just said the same thing at the same time. Miranda says Larek and Yvonne used to do that all the time, but they had been married since the dinosaurs roamed, but I don't think that was really true. I looked the dinosaurs up, and they roamed a long time ago. When I asked Larek about, he just said Miranda was being funny, and the dinosaurs had been dead for a long time before he had gotten married, but I didn't think it was funny, because how I'm supposed to learn things if people are just standing around being funny all the time. Liz, are you laughing at me?"

"No, never."

"Oh, okay, anyway, Larek said she had taught me something called sarcasm." He huffs obviously not amused by the lesson. "Why would you say something that isn't true to be funny? That's telling a lie, and telling a lie is bad, not funny. I asked Larek that, and he said he didn't know and then he got a disc. and we learned more about the dinosaurs. Did you know they don't even know how they died? They think it was a comet that crashed on Earth and spread dust everywhere, so they couldn't breathe. Others says it was because they got sick." His eyes shoot cautiously to his father.

"Tell Liz about your favorite dinosaur Seth." Max says clearly trying to distract him.

"My favorite dinosaur is the Stegosaurus." Seth explains launching into a very detailed and well thought out analysis as to why Stegosaurus is his favorite, which seems to revolve around his recognition of the animal being such a superb fighter. "They had these very sharp plates along their back which helped keep them safe from the other dinosaurs, but they also had the plates on their tail, which were kind of like weapons so they could fight and defend themselves at the same time. That's a very good thing to be able to do. What's your favorite dinosaur?"

"Tyrannosaurus Rex."

"He had small arms." Seth says looking rather distressed at my choice.

"But very sharp teeth," I roar tickling his side, "so he could bite any little boys that came his way."

"Liz, dinosaurs and people did not live at the same time. I know they show it in the movies, but they are---"

"Has hell completely frozen over or have you lost your mind?"

My eyes shoot up to the door quickly to see no other than Maria Deluca standing there with her hands on her hips five seconds shy of going absolutely postal.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it is extremely rude to open a closed door without knocking? You might just be interrupting something" Seth says.

I make a gallant attempt to hold back my laughter, but it comes out anyway, which immediately seems to set Max off as well. The sound of his chuckling causes a funny feeling to settle in my heart.

Seth, for his part, finds no humor in the current exchange and demands to know why we are laughing at him.

"No," Max pats his shoulder tenderly. "We aren't laughing at you. It's what you said. It was funny."

"I was not trying to be funny. I was trying to teach Maria an Earth lesson." Seth says seriously.

"You see Maria has never knocked on a door in her life." I try to explain. "She's constantly interrupting." My cheeks heat as my thoughts land on one incident in particular.

"Like Michael's apartment," Max adds eyeing me.

"Yes." I answer totally entranced by the way Max is looking at me, and the idea that he still thinks of that night to.

A hand waves across my face breaking the trance. "There will be none of that. Up." Maria demands.

"I am not looking to get into another argument with you." I answer.

"Liz," she pleads sounding hurt.

I chew on my bottom lip.

Why does everything have to be so damn difficult?

I don't want to fight with my best friend.

"Maria, I know that you are angry with me." Max begins trying to smooth things over with her.

"Angry doesn't begin to cover it."

"We were friends once."

"Don't you dare remind me of my lapse in judgment. I used to want Michael to be just like you with your words and your pretty gifts."

"Maria, please stop, " I beg.

"No, it needs to be said. I was such a fool. Michael is ten times the man you will ever be. He's the one that actually runs this operation, doesn't he? He's off doing what you should be doing while you're here trying to seduce Liz by showing her what a family man you are."

"That's enough," a tight voice says from behind.

My lip chewing escalates to full on biting for this has just gone from bad to worse.

Maria throws a quick look behind her shoulder to Michael who Seth is quick to whisper to his dad didn't knock either.

I squeeze her hand. She looks back at me while I hope there are enough years of friendship between us for me to communicate the message silently to drop this right now.

"I should have known you'd take his side." She says indicating that the past is still or even more in play with her than it is with me.

"I'm not taking anyone's side." Michael answers.

"Right," she drawls.

"You are in the wrong here, deeply in the wrong. I am just trying to save you the guilt, and the degree of apology you are going to feel compelled to make when you find out later down the road how in the wrong you are."

"All your words about staying."

"Staying where Michael?" Seth asks. "I just wanted to know where Michael was staying if he wasn't going to be staying with us anymore daddy." He says after a rebuke from his father to keep quiet.

Maria's gaze shoots to Seth, and for the first time, I can see the wheels turning in her head, filling in the blanks that like it or not getting along with Max comes with loving Michael. "You never told me that you lived with them."

"You never asked."

I try again with my visual message of peace and harmony.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take. "He is not good for you. He was not good for you then and is certainly not good for you now."

"We are just going to be friends. We decided that."

Michael snorts which turns to feign coughing when he see me looking at him.

Maria gives me a hug, which turns out to be all for show, so she can whisper in my ear to remember how I felt like for months after he left.

I draw back from her. "I don't need you to remind me thanks." I say shortly.

"Liz, I'm just looking out for you."

"We have had this conversation twice now. We will not be having it for a third time." I warn.

"But---."

"We will not be having this conversation again."

"You want to be the doormat to him and their child. Then do that," she bites before leaving angrily.

"He isn't their child." I yell after her. Red spirals skate up my arm. I feel like I'm ready to pop.

Seth crawls down the bed to Michael. "I know that you like that Maria lady a lot, but I don't think I like her all that much. She's very bossy."

"The Maria lady has her moments." Michael answers. "That just wasn't one of them."

"I just thought," Max offers. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"That you could appeal to her sense of reason and get her to lay of Liz for five seconds." Michael answers. "She's too emotional to think reasonably right now. It happens a lot with human broads. They are a breed to themselves. You'll do well to remember that Seth, since you seem to be cut from the same clothe when it comes to the human ladies."

Seth's cheeks turn several different colors of red. "I told you not to tell him about Mercedes, dad."

"No, it's cute Seth. The little box you made her was an excellent choice. Girls like gifts. Your dad taught me that. You want to simmer down over there Liz. I feel like I'm in a wind tunnel."

"What?" I ask taking in for the first time the little knickknacks swirling around in a mini cyclone.

"Hey, Carrie, there's no one that really needs to be caught on fire or impaled by shards of glass right now so will you please stop it." Michael says.

"I'm not doing it." I answer.

"Maxwell, control your woman."

A glass figurine frees itself from the cyclone and flies toward Michael.

He easily sends it crashing to the wall with a flick of his hand. "I'm going to try and not to take that personally." He quips. "Seth, we aren't just keeping you around, because you're cute and entertaining. Pull your weight buddy."

"What?"

"Liz is hell bent on ripping up the place in your honor. Go over there and let her know your feelings, aren't hurt."

"Why would she think my feelings are hurt?"

"Rule number two in dealing with human ladies. Don't try to think like them. It's impossible."

Another figurine comes plummeting quite near to Michael's head.

"Stop teaching him your misogynistic ideologies."

"I don't have misogynistic ideologies. I love the ladies. Especially, the lady downstairs who is currently cussing up a storm in Spanish." He turns to Max. "Did I ever tell you how much I love it when she talks dirty to me in Spanish."

"Yes," Max says as if he has heard the story a hundred times. "It sounds like nothing else in the world. You should get her to learn French. It is supposed to be the language of love."

"Now, that's an idea."

"My feelings aren't hurt." Seth announces as he plops down in my lap. "I don't know why I had to tell you this, but Michael said I did."

"I heard." I answer as calm descends over the room and me.

"That's was weird." Seth remarks echoing my thoughts.

The two seem to take no notice as Michael begins to fill Max in on the current situation. I am struck by the altered state of their exchange. Gone are the teens that constantly butted heads, and in their place, sit two men who have grown quite accustomed to navigating the once murky waters of their Czech heritage by relying on and respecting each other.

It's a nice thing to see.

"Neva has let it been known that she's quite pissed at you for running off with her son. I told her what she had to do to ease that, and she balked at it." Michael relays.

"Well, then she can continue to balk at it. She gets Talen back when she decides to play ball."

"She says she doesn't have the political influence to get the warrants of Liz and Seth."

"Then she's lying. Her husband orchestrated the entire thing to begin with. She can unorchestrate it. She wields just as much or even more power behind the scenes as he does. I will not budge on this."

"I would never suggest that you do. You are in charge of the alliance not them. They're simply testing you, counting on the fact you'll fold since Larek is no longer in the picture. Plus, Liz is starting to grow on me again. It would be a shame to have to send her off to a prison colony. It was a joke Liz." His eyes take on a glowing yellow color. "Oh, you want to fight me now, is that it?"

"Michael," Max admonishes.

"Sorry," Michael mumbles turning back to Max, "but she did the eye glow thing on me first. I'm counting on the fact that it's coming from aggression not arousal."

Max's eyes take on a sudden green sheen.

"Look, Liz is not my type. Remember Maria downstairs, that's my type."

Max shakes his head, and the color fades. "Sorry," he apologizes bringing Talen's mother back up again. "I find it strange that Neva's doing the talking, and we haven't heard a word from Sinon."

"Trouble in paradise, perhaps? Who could really blame her? Sinon is a prick that and if the rumors are correct likes to spend a lot of time in the company of ladies who are most certainly not his wife. It's something that could be capitalized on and make Neva more agreeable to our wishes."

"No, we have no proof that the rumors are correct nor do we have time to cut through the skepticism she might have in regards to her husband's fidelity. If we're going to get through Neva, it has to be through her son. Her making contact with us is extremely irregular. Tradition dictates that I'm in the right here, and we shouldn't even be hearing from her, which tells me she'll be ready to deal soon. I know you're not completely onboard with this Michael."

"It's the parent thing, again?"

"Yes, has anything been heard from Larek?"

"No, Isabel is gung ho to leave the capital for Nausica."

"We need her there."

"I told her that. I've never seen her like this. She said all of three words to the man in the last eight years, and now she's all ready to take a force to go and find him."

"It's Vilandra."

"What? You said that there was no chance of our other personalities resurfacing for Isabel or me." He sounds as if the option distastes him greatly.

"There isn't it fully, but aspects might in reaction to certain stressors."

"I wasn't even aware that Vilandra and Larek were close."

"Larek fumbled around after, but he wasn't her type. She didn't use him though like she used everyone else, so maybe they were close in their own way. He did protect her child that she adored above everything else from Khivar. That's enough to make her go to the ends of the galaxy for him and leave the capital, which we can't have."

"Then we get the adored child to tell her to lay off."

"We don't know where the adored child has gone off to, since she threw her temper fit."

"She's here. I ran into her when I was looking for Liz and the boys. Didn't you wonder what all the Eric Clapton you were hearing was coming from?"

Seth perks up but says nothing.

"She didn't come back with you all, why?"

"She had an errand to intend to."

"So help me if she's killed Nicholas, we have to keep our heads about us if we're going to win this."

"Maxwell, do the words 'duh' mean anything to you? Ours is a well-oiled machine. History is not repeating itself."

Max looks haunted for a moment.

"You are not Zan. Look, I'd be the first one to tell you if you were sucking at this. You aren't."

"Thanks for the ringing endorsement."

"Kyle's lady is coming off from her high." Michael turns to me. "How well do you know her?"

"Only in passing."

"Your eyes are glowing again. Antarians only do the glowing eye bit for two reasons aggression or arousal." He clucks his tongue. "Maxwell, you've been away for so long Liz had to go and play for the other team for a bit."

"What team?" Seth asks.

"There is no team. Michael is a moron." I answer him.

"Can you feel the undercurrent Max?" Michael asks.

Max rolls his eyes mercifully not picking up that part of the undercurrent is not actually coming from Michael's teasing. "She might know something that can help us find Kyle and Khivar."

And Tess.

"How much does she know about everything?" Max asks.

"I don't know. Hannah and their relationship never really came up in our conversations," except when Kyle was promising on everything holy that nothing happened until after we were done.

"You would think Kyle might have talked things over with you considering you're in the same boat being humans with powers trying to date humans who don't have them." Michael offers.

"I'm sorry if my relationship with Kyle doesn't meet your muster."

Something in my wording unwilling tips Michael off.

I recognize it in the widening of his eyes, and the quick sweeps he makes in Max's direction trying to discern if Max has realized it to.

Max, for his part, seems to be still blissfully unaware, which bothers me.

For unlike most men, Max sees everything.

He can be like a damn computer processing every detail down to the last byte of information.

Yet with like any system, it does have the ability to be crashed.

I should know.

While trying to impart her fairy tale notions of love to me, my therapist has helped me to see one crucial thing.

I expected him to somehow read through what he saw of Kyle and me together.

I expected him to know that I was lying.

I expected him to figure out the entire charade and come back to me.

He saw my soul after all, knew who I was, but that knowledge no doubt got lost in the information overload he suffered that night.

It was an overload that made him susceptible to his enemies, an overload that I caused, and the fallout from it nearly drove me insane, which is all the more reason to stay clear of him for both of our mutual benefits.

Only I'm not staying clear.

I'm here engaging in what one could deem a strategizing session.

He once told me that I messed with his balance.

I'm fairly certain that I don't have the power over him now.

He would probably wouldn't even bat an eye over the news that Kyle and I were in fact a real couple.

Not that he needs to know, because I'm sure as hell not itching to know about all the women he's got hanging on him back home.

"Liz, Michael isn't trying to criticize you. I'm just trying to learn everything about the situation."

I stroke Seth's hair thankful that he's in my arms. "Kyle is in love with her. Honesty and truth are very important to him. He says you can't have a relationship without it." I tell them remembering with crystal clarity how he told me the same thing the day he showed up unannounced to my dorm to break things off. "From that, I would assume that she knows about his powers, my powers, and everything else. She's never said anything about it to me personally though."

"Okay." Max nods.

"I don't know what reaction you'll get from her. You're not one of Kyle's favorite people."

"I'm not anyone's favorite person it seems these days."

"It's only because they don't understand. Ignorance breeds antagonism. Start letting people in, and then they'll start understanding why you do the things that you do. I learned that the hard way after falling on my face several times because of it."

Max struggles to get out of the bed.

"You don't need to be doing that yet Maxwell."

"No, I need to be doing it. As Maria so eloquently put it, I've been sitting on my butt long enough."

"Why?" I ask startling both men. "There's no mood to ruin. I want to know what's going on. I want you to open the door for me just a little. No, I don't want it. I demand it. You owe me that."

"I do." Max answers rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Michael, can you take Seth?"

"I want to stay to daddy."

"No, you need to go with Michael."

"Please don't think that I'm trying to interfere with your parenting, but I really think Seth needs to hear this to."

"I'm worried daddy." Seth adds. "I'm scared to, and I wouldn't be so scared if I knew some things."

Max looks conflicted.

It's one thing to be constantly reminded of your mortality. It's quite another to put into words explaining it to your child of all people.

"Michael," Max looks apologetic.

"I'm going to take five. Find Maria, teach her some French or something."

A ghost of a smile appears on Max's lips. "You have fun with that. First off, I want the two of you to know that I'm fine. I'm taking care of myself and doing the things that I need to be doing." He pauses nervously. "I've pictured this conversation a hundred times. You'd think I could conduct it better."

"We just want to know what's going on that's all." I nod feeling quite certain that knowing what's going on is going to be quite a bitter pill to swallow.

"I get headaches a lot."

"And you have to be very quiet then and not make a lot of noise." Seth adds gravely.

A forlorn expression grips Max as he is no doubt thinking about yet again his failure to give Seth a normal childhood.

I reach out and take his hand. "Stop," I insist.

"Or your face might just stay like that." Seth comments.

"It might just." Max eyes lighten a bit in reference to their shared joke. "The two of you are quite a tandem together."

"Daddy, I don't want to talk about tandems. I want to talk about why your head hurts all the time."

"Right, my head hurts because of Khivar. He liked to look at my memories, and I didn't want him to. Now, there are a lot of cuts in my head that hurt sometimes."

"Which I could make better if you would let me," Seth insists.

"No, you can't make them better."

One giant similarity pops out at me between not wanting Seth to heal him and not wanting me to kiss him.

He doesn't want to connect to me, or to his son, or possibly anyone.

I file the thought away.

"It could be worse." He begins again. "It could be a lot worse. They are beings whose minds don't even work anymore, because they have so many cuts in their head. So, I've been extremely lucky in that retrospect. Everything else that you've seen is because of Grey."

I squeeze Seth to me, "but that happened before he was ever born."

"Yes."

"But people are getting sick now and dy---expiring in a few days time."

"What does expiring mean?" Seth asks.

"It means to die. Seth, I'm fine. I'm not dying." Max is quick to point out. "I was exposed to a less lethal, weaker," he adds trying to keep things simple for Seth," version of the disease. I get the same symptoms as the others. It just attacks me slower."

"Why would Khivar do that?" I ask.

"He didn't. Grey did."

"You're telling me he made the conscious decision to do that."

"Yes, there are traces of Alex in him."

"If there are traces of Alex in him, then he should have spared you all together."

"He wasn't in a position to do that."

I curse underneath my breath.

"He did what he could. I'm grateful for it and alive because of it. Please don't hold it against him. I once asked him why he did what he did."

"For Isabel, I suppose."

"No, he said he did it for you that you would want me safe. I wasn't particularly sure of that at time." He says wryly. "I'm sure of it now though."

"This bout that you had. What brought it on?"

"It's kind of embarrassing. I think it was a panic attack over the idea of Nicholas being anywhere near the two of you."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that daddy. You should have seen Liz when Nicholas grabbed me. She told him to give me back. He said he wasn't afraid of a human and then Liz made him afraid."

"I don't remember any of that." I whisper. "I just came to with Nicholas' husk on my fingers."

Max looks concerned while Seth excitedly continues on. "She gets really angry if people try to take me away, and I don't want to go. Liz is very good at keeping me safe. She's like having my own giant guard lady."

"That's what it's about Seth, isn't it? Having someone that will keep you safe and stop people from taking you places you don't want to go." Max comments softly.

"I don't know." Seth answers.

The quick succession of flashes he sends me say otherwise.

_He kicks, bites, and screams against a pair of arms who is taking him away from Isabel and Michael's prone body._

"ISABEL!" He screams as he begins to be dragged away. "ISABEL HELP ME!"

"We will find you Seth." He hears her call. "We will find you." 

_He doesn't understand why she is not keeping him safe. Why no one seems to be able to keep him safe. _

There is terror, so much terror, and like that it's gone.

_He is nestled in his daddy's arms, but he doesn't stay nestled for long. His daddy is leaving and not taking him to. They have talked about this, but he is still confused and is hurt that he's being left behind. _

The first flash comes back into play.

_The arms holding him now have a voice. "It's really quite simple. You let us leave Isabel. I spare Michael."_

Outrage grips him as he puts a face to the body behind him. 

Her face enters the scene.

_He thinks she's pretty. She calls herself his mommy and is the first lady ever to do that. He has always been curious about mommies, for every living thing has a mommy, every living thing except for him. He thinks he might spend some time with his mommy when his daddy is away. His mommy smiles when he says this but reminds him not to tell anyone that he has seen his mommy, or he will never get to see her again. _

_He definitely doesn't want that, so he tells Michael a story, and another story, and still another story all so he can spend lots of time with his mommy._

But his time with mommy isn't like his time with daddy.

Mommy doesn't give him hugs or kisses. She doesn't even call him by his right name no matter how many times he tells her.

Mommy likes to step on animals and hurt them when they're talking and gets mad at him whenever he tries to fix them. "Never heal creatures that are beneath you Zan."

He doesn't understand.

He likes to heal everything.

Michael's head is starting to hurt a lot.

He wonders why.

Isabel comes and frowns at him.

He wishes she'd go away. He's never liked her.

He catches them talking in that funny Earth language they sometimes use.

"We need to call Max."

"We aren't calling Maxwell. The whole purpose of this was for him to get his head on straight. He can't do that if he's worrying about his kid."

"Something is up with Seth."

"Yes, he misses his dad."

"No, it's something else."

"You always think something is up with him. Can't you just give the kid a break?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Right, you're down his throat at the slightest provocation."

"I am not."

"You are to. I see it. Max sees it. Do you have any idea how much that hurts him?"

"He's the one that cut himself off from me."

"Only because you insist in trying to constantly gut his child for things that he didn't do."

"Seth's a warper."

"And a healer."

"Who's broken."

"He is your nephew. Jesus, what is wrong with you?"

"Max is not strong enough to balance him out, and you're kidding yourself in thinking that you're helping the situation."

"Isabel get out."

"Khivar never touched Seth. He messed with all of us except Seth. Why? Don't you see. Khivar was scared of him."

"So we should be to. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say."

"It's the only explanation."

"There are numerous explanations. Someone was protecting him, most notably Tess."

"Tess kept on for hours after Seth's birth saying that he wasn't hers that he has no mother."

Seth rushes into the room and lets them know that he has a mother, and he's been spending lots and lots of time with her.

A pair of arms clamp around Seth's waist before pulling him back as he tries to reach them.

Michael raises his hand, winces once, and falls to the ground.

Seth tries frantically to go to him.

"It's really quite simple. You let us leave Isabel. I spare Michael his life. I suggest you make up your mind quickly unless you want him to go the same route as the unfortunate Alex Whitman did."

He turns his head to see that it really is his mommy holding him.

He doesn't understand.

"MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY. I WILL KILL HIM." His mommy yells.

"LET ME, GO MOMMY." He kicks her hard.

"Take him Tess." Isabel whispers.

"ISABEL!" He screams as he begins to be dragged away. "ISABEL HELP ME!"

The flashes end, but little pieces of his thoughts still trickle through the connection.

He is no longer the same little boy who is fascinated by the idea of mommies. He finds the idea of having a mother to be distasteful.

Mommies are liars as are most women.

Seth's fingers are on my cheeks brushing at my skin. "We were talking, and you just started crying for no reason." He explains.

"Human ladies do that sometimes. Honey, can you get down? I need to open the window to let some air in. It's a little stuffy in here."

He obediently complies. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine," going over to the window I raise up the glass.

Hot humid air brushes against my face while from the corner of my eye I'm aware of Max hitting me with his one hundred volt study stare and feel another pair of eyes warming up behind me from the studier in training. "Stop," I tell Max. Looking over my shoulder, I meet Seth's gaze. "That goes for you as well. The two of you spend an alarming amount of time obsessing." I comment returning my attention back outside to brood on the best way to dispose of a body.

I clutch at my ponytail finding the tightness of it is suddenly giving me a headache. Pulling the band out, my fingers sweep over the scar etched into my scalp and just like that there's knowledge of how I really got it, and it wasn't by taking a header through the Crashdown's giant glass window.

The exact story is far bloodier, but it happened.

Read any book about repressed memory, and you'll find the same message. One removes the guard of the brain by removing the fear that it's guarding.

She tried to split my head open.

Lye can reduce a body to an organic soup.

She laughed every time I screamed.

There can't be any DNA left for another clone to be made.

I feared her from the very first day she sat foot in Roswell.

I don't anymore.

It's time she fears me.

"I want you to teach me how to use my powers." I tell Max.

"If you open this door, you don't close it." He answers gravely.

"Then let's open it."

"You're a scientist. You help people."

"If you won't do it, I'll find someone that will."

"I'm just asking that you give this some thought."

"I have. I've given it lots and lots of thought." I answer leaning down to him. "So much thought you wouldn't believe it." I nuzzle my nose against his.

"You got more flashes from Seth, didn't you? What did you see?"

"Liz, you can't just look into my head without asking. That's very rude."

"Seth, if she had gone into your head without asking, your head would be hurting right now."

"Oh, but daddy I've never let anyone into my head."

I brush my lips down Max's cheek.

His attention cuts back to me in an instant.

"So, what's your answer?"

"You're all over the place. A month ago, the idea of your powers terrified you, and now you want to know how to use them."

I yawn. "This is getting tiresome."

"I think Seth might have thrown some wires in your head when Nicholas found you all. He didn't do it on purpose. Children when their frightened stimulate certain hormones in their parents. I don't really know how he did that in you. He just got scared and wanted someone there that would keep him safe."

"I'm not scared of Nicholas. I could beat him up easy." Seth says. "I just let Liz beat him up, because she wanted to really badly. I was being nice to her daddy just like you told me to."

"Or it could just be you're feeling threatened right now by what happened with Nicholas, I don't know, but something is going on."

I twist a long strand of Max's hair around my finger and watch it fall. "This is a very interesting conversation we're having, but you still haven't given me your answer."

He stops me from taking another piece of his hair to play with. "I can't think when you do that."

"There's nothing to think about."

My cell starts to ring. With my mind, I reach out unzip my purse and send the phone flying up from my bottom of my bag and into my waiting hand. "Liz Parker," I answer.

"What's with the name change Parker?" Brian asks. "You never call yourself Liz. It's always Elizabeth."

"Variety is the spice of life."

"Are you all right? You sound different."

"I'm more than all right."

From behind me, I'm aware of Seth getting quite agitated with his father. "I didn't do anything." He huffs in response to a series of questions his dad has asked him in Antarian.

"About before Parker, I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. This is all very new to me. I need you to know that I'm okay with it, because I am with everything than you can do."

"Thank you, I'm relieved to hear you say that. I know that---" I am interrupted by a pair of hands grabbing at me.

"Daddy thinks I did something to you." Seth complains. "I didn't do anything. Please tell him to stop asking me questions."

"Brian just a second." I put my hand over the phone shooting a glance to Max who looks rather irritated.

I, myself, find it curiously reminiscent of a study I once read regarding willful children and their habit of starting trouble when things aren't going their way.

"You have a problem with your daddy you resolve it."

"But."

"But what? I may feel compelled to do a lot for you kid but ganging up on your daddy isn't one of them."

"Liz." He whines.

"She's on the phone Seth. Have all your manners just flown out the window?" Max demands.

"She's on the phone with her friend." Seth answers. "You don't even care."

"Yeah, Brian, I can hear you. I'm coming right now." I turn away from Max and the willful child. "I know I've been preoccupied. There's no excuse for it. I just had some personal things to attend to. Right, will do." I hang up the phone. "I have to go." I lean down to give a kiss to Seth who responds by ducking away from me.

"I guess that means I get two kisses his and mine." Max answers as I kiss his forehead.

"Must be your lucky day," I say. "Are you going to be okay by yourself?"

"I'm not an invalid."

"I'm not suggesting that you are." My eyes fall close as his hand cups my cheek. The warmth of his skin against mine feels so good.

"I'll teach you if you want me to. Just be sure it's what you really want."

"I want to help you."

"Help me with your science."

"I want Tess dead." I whisper into his ear, "and I want to be the one that does it."


	31. Bonnie & Clyde

Chapter Thirty: Bonnie and Clyde

I am a woman on the verge.

The verge of what proves to be an interesting but a troublesome question as I begin to form my plans for the alien pop tart.

There is a sense of an epiphany that morality is nothing more than a con, breathed into being to kid us all into thinking humanity has progressed far beyond from that of a jungle cat prowling around looking for its next meal.

We hide behind ideas of fraternity and delight at stories of the underdog having his or her day all in the attempt to ignore one basic biological principle. The strong always win while the weak cling to idolized visions of how life should truly be.

It's the law of the jungle after all.

One, I refuse for the people I love and myself to be on the receiving end ever again.  
With that one endgame in mind, my focus shifts from Tess and her list of crimes to the creation of my probable ones, because one does not become ruler of the jungle on moonbeams and stardust alone.

The old conventional wisdom of if you want to break an omelet you have to break some eggs still stands.

I am definitely for the breaking.

Tess was supposed to be the answer to saving him and the world, to fight the fight that I couldn't, because I was just a small town girl from New Mexico.

If only I had told him to go hell, there is so much anger.

I am choking on it, but said choking is really just a preliminary to chocking her. The more and more I imagine it. The realer it becomes. How I would pull her up by her blonde hair, and wrap my hand around her windpipe. Squeezing, until those blue eyes of hers roll into the back of her head. Then I would ask her dead corpse something pithy and memorable.

My failure wouldn't be such a failure then.

"You've been rather quiet Parker." Brian begins his eyes glued to the microscope's lens.

"Don't really have much to say," I answer looking at the strands of hair from one of Alex's clones sticking out from the microscope's platform. It wasn't simply enough to kill him. They had to harvest his DNA while they were at it, and turn him into some kind of monster.

"It was a good idea for you to collect this."

I shrug my shoulders.

"I know that having them look like him must have been very hard for you."

"Are you getting anything from it?"

"The mitochondrion looks to be abnormally large."

"Which could mean just about anything," I snap.

His head pops up from his study. "Science isn't about quick and easy answers. It's a process. You know that."

"Meanwhile, they're out infecting more people."

"We're in a holding pattern. The quarantines are being maintained. We've circulated their picture. Granted, we're calling them terrorists not walking viruses, but it still counts for something. My only issue is that it should have been done days ago. They displayed great hubris trying to keep it in house by fabricating samples."

"If Pierce had gotten his hands on the real thing, there's no telling what he would have done with it."

"So you believe their Pierce is a maniac story?"

"Yes, if he had something that he could use against them, he would use it without any regard to whether it might take some humans out along the way. What his son did to---." I trail off. "He tortured and tried to use science as an excuse."

"So junior was a bit of a psycho, but is it fair to group the sins of the son on the father?"

"Yes, " I stress as he looks decidedly unconvinced. "What other reason would they have to not to act?"

"I'm just naturally wary of the establishment whether it be domestic or otherworldly. I guess it's the legacy of being a politician's kid, but you never trust the official story. There is always something more that they aren't telling you." He sighs. "You will do well to remember that if you're going to go play in the big leagues with them."

"I'm not trying to play in their leagues."

"You honestly don't feel like we are all just pawns here having are strings pulled by something else or a whole lot of other somethings."

"What do you mean?" I frown.

"I wasn't completely honest about the taxi. At the time, I didn't think it was relevant. However, I get the sense that these people play hard, and they play to win."

"You don't think it was an accident?"

"It came out of nowhere like a bat out of hell."

"That's nothing unusual for taxi drivers."

"The person didn't stop, not even to shout at the stupid gringo that didn't get out of the way fast enough. That's---."

"Unusual," I finish.

"Then look at you. You weren't even supposed to be here Liz. And yet, here you are, working on an alien plague while you just happen to have gone to high school with many of the key players. They needed an in with the CDC. We needed some kind of assurance that they were the good guys. Those are a lot of converging factors, don't you think? It's as almost as if it was destined."

"I don't believe in destiny."

"Then try a manipulation."

"Who would have the power to do something like that?"

"Maybe, you should ask the blue blood?"

"That's ridiculous," I protest.

"You're like a moth to the flame where he's concerned."

"You're seeing things that aren't there."

"And your refusing to see things that are. I like you a lot, maybe too much. Just watch yourself Liz, there's a lot things swirling around here that I don't get nor like." He warns.

"You don't know him like I know him."

"Correction knew, of course, things were exactly that great when you knew him either if my memory holds true."

"I've already had this conversation with Maria."

"Funny, that's two people now. There appears to be a trend forming. All we need is to throw Kyle into the mix. We really shouldn't be the ones having all the fun with the aliens. His ass should be down here with all of us in the muck, instead of in some cushy office in DC."

"His ass is down here. Tess," I spit out, "took him and Hannah. We have Hannah. We don't have Kyle."

"What do they want with Kyle?"

"I don't know."

"Who is stronger? Could you beat him if it came down to it?"

"Kyle would never hurt me." I scoff.

"If they didn't take him to even things out, why go to the trouble to take him in the first place?"

"Because Tess wanted to screw with him. It's what she does." My eyes snap away from Alex's hair.

"You ever play chess?"

"No."

"It's my father's favorite game. He says it's all about predicting the ultimate motivation of your opponent and using it to draw him or her out."

"I see the logic in that. Everyone is driven by his or her own personal set of quirks. I have to wonder at their choice though. You would want someone that would create the highest level of panic like Seth for instance."

"And that would be the best plan of attack if Max was the one that Khivar was trying to draw out. Maria was attacked in her apartment. I was nearly run over. Kyle's been abducted. What is the commonality?"

"The gas explosion wasn't really a gas explosion. It was Tess."

"I'm sorry. It's much easier to accept a thing if you can chalk it up as a random event as oppose to a deliberate act of maliciousness."

"Do you know what gets me the most? I let it happen."

"That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say."

"I had powers. I couldn't blast, but I could move things. If I had just fought harder."

"Parker, I have no doubt that you fought like hell. I think that's what Khivar is counting on. Hence, the little experiments he seems to be running on your nearest and dearest. The control is the attack. He just seems to be switching the variables looking for the right one. He's a scientist, so he's approaching his problem as any scientist would. It appears the Scientific Method is an intergalactic concept."

"No, it's Tess being Tess."

"Or Tess is being Tess, but she is also serving as his catalyst."

"It's kind of a waste of their time to do those things when I'm not even there to be observed."

"Maybe, you don't have to be there for it to have an effect. It's obvious that they haven't found your motivation yet."

"Tess' head on a stick is motivation enough."

"That's not funny Parker."

"I wasn't trying to be."

What is even less funny is when my thoughts drift to my much-maligned visitor from the future. He got the easy way out never having to see that not a single good thing would come from his and my actions.

"LIZ!"

"Seth, your cheeks are flushed." I press my hand frantically to his forehead.

"I ran here." He pulls me up from my chair and grabs the pieces of paper around me before thrusting them into my hands. For a moment, I am struck numb looking down at my thoughts strewn over the sheets. It's been over seven years, since I've felt compelled to put pen to paper. The sheets suddenly catch on fire, and I drop them to the ground.

"I hope those weren't important."

"No," I stomp the flame out.

"Come with me, I need you. Your Barbie has been saying things to Miranda. Now, she's telling Michael and daddy about them. She thinks they should send me back. I was trying to listen at the door, but then they activated the thrala, and I couldn't hear anymore. What did you tell him?" He demands.

"He's my friend. When you eavesdrop, you don't get the entire story. He wouldn't betray my confidence like that."

"Miranda is very good at getting people to talk to her. Plus, he has yellow hair. Yellow haired people can't be trusted."

"Says who?"

"Tess and Isabel both have yellow hair."

"That's just a coincidence."

"You, Michael, and daddy don't, and you don't ever lie to me. See, I'm right."

"No, you're not." I choose to abandon this argument in favor of focusing on the real problem.

We stop outside a glass door, and he motions for me to sit down. "I cannot go back home. I have to be here." He stresses, "near you."

"Why?"

"Why do I have to have a reason?" His look turns forlorn. "Do you want me to go?"

I touch his shoulder. "The mere thought of it makes my heart hurt so bad."

"Then you tell daddy that you're aren't going to let him send me away.' "

"He's your father."

"And your," he struggles for a word before deciding on, "Liz."

"That's not going to get us very far."

"It will with my plan. You should be able to hear what they're saying and see them." He answers pressing his head to mine

"How am I going to hear and see them if you can't?"

"You are different than I am. Your body can be one place, and your thoughts can go elsewhere."

"I can't do something like that at will. The last time Isabel had to," I meet his eyes, "connect with me."

"Liz," he says clearly exacerbated. "Isabel is not someone that you can trust."

"I know that you're upset with her." I broach the topic carefully not really sure if he even remembers the flash that I saw of his abduction.

"I can't talk to you and ask your Antarian side to help us as the same time. It's kind of tricky to find it when you're not scared."

"So that's what you did when we blew up Tess' car?"

"Yes."

"Will there ever be a point when I can do it by myself?"

"Maybe, now shh, thinking about nothing means not talking."

He veers back suddenly as if surprised and mouths "daddy" before the rest of what he says gets lost in a buzz of white noise that slowly turns into organized sound.

"Look, I'll be the first to admit that they're extremely cute and cuddly when they're being humans, but then they switch. It's some scary shit Maxwell. They got the drop on Nicholas of all people. Liz was systematically dissolving his body parts when I got there, and Seth was holding him down with his powers."

The wall in front of me dissolves away revealing Max leaning up against a desk. His color is still bad. I am unable to stop myself from touching his cheek.

He shivers. His longer fingers fiddle with a pencil in his hand.

"Brian says she's abnormally short tempered." The ever-illusive Lena Cruz adds.

"Who would have thought you could get the douchebag to turn on Liz so fast?" Michael quips. "I bet he gave up without much of a fight."

"There is a genuine concern. He's very sensitive for a human and knows that's she is an extremely dark place, which makes what you're saying about Liz and Seth's relationship even more dire. What Tess didn't achieve in her little kill feast with Seth, Liz could do. The potential is there." Lena tells him.

"Because Seth is a passive vessel that has no free will or understanding of right and wrong?" Max asks with a slight edge to his voice. "I'm glad you think my son is a sociopath."

"That is not what I'm saying, and you know that. Things can sometimes get lost in the heat of the moment." She argues. "It's impossible to know what the addition of Liz could lead to the equation."

"They are a tag team Maxwell. The scions in the freezers and Tess' car, they couldn't have done that by themselves."

"They were attacked, and they defended themselves. There is nothing wrong with that." Max argues.

"How long until their defense because an offense? The power that they are bringing out in the other is extremely potent, and the feelings of entitlement can be great. You factor in than it's an Antarian child and a human woman, it doesn't bode well. Brian said she was talking about killing Tess."

Max breaks a pencil in his hand.

"He wasn't sure if she was joking or being serious." Lena continues her eyes on Max's hands. "It's Vilandra all over again."

"Liz is not Vilandra. Her anger is not born out of the need to kill or for personal gain, but her own perceived failures. She thinks that she's failed on every level, and that's where the true danger is if I don't get through to her. She will do something reckless, and it will probably get her killed."

"And take your son with her," Lena continues. "You have to see that what Tess wasn't to Seth, Liz clearly is."

"How is that even possible?" Michael's face darkens as a certain scenario plays out in his head. "Could Tess have messed with your memories Max?"

"It's not genetic." Lena says almost apologetically. "I had him DNA tested when he was born. He is Tess' son."

Max curiously detaches himself from the rest of the conversation choosing to stare out the window rather than participate. Only talk of the convergence shakes him from his stupor quite explosively.

"It's shut." His voice thunders.

"How long can you really keep it contained from her?" She challenges. "I've read the warrant on Liz. Khivar could turn her so fast. He has everything at his hands to do so."

"He has the thoughts and observations of a sixteen year old child. Newsflash, the majority of that wasn't so accurate. Khivar doesn't have a clue as to whom he's dealing with."

"Do I have to remind you what your faith in her got you the last time?"

Max said there were other women. I just never realized that there would be women that he would share himself with so. The sound and picture wobble. I lose focus of about everything except my hollowness.

"It got me a son that is my world, and who is the only reason that I'm standing here with some semblance of humanity left. Her love game me Seth, because she loved me enough to give me up. I understand that now." His voice cuts across the divide before my new little trick sputters out completely.

"He's really going to do it." Seth breathes. "He's going to make me go home."

"He didn't say that." I wipe my eyes.

"Then why are you crying?"

"Didn't you hear and see him to?"

"Liz, I already told you. I can't do stuff like that."

"I'm sorry. I forgot." I mumble.

"If he didn't say I had to go, then why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad."

"Sad people cry, and you're crying."

He reaches behind me and snaps a red flower of a bush. Closing his palm around it for a beat, he opens it again to reveal the same white something that has haunted me from before he was born.

"You don't like it. I can change it." His palm closes.

"No, please don't."

"Then here," he thrusts the rose at me with the frankness in tact that I find so amusing in children.

"It's beautiful." I hold the blossom up to my nose and close my eyes. "I got a bouquet of these once. I pressed every single one of them."

"They grow in the glass house in the backyard."

I open my eyes trying to halt the travel of my thoughts. "It must be pretty with all the different colors of flowers."

"It's just the white roses out there. Daddy won't let them plant anything else."

I twirl the rose in my hand before looking at Max's own little rose whose price was so dear but worth it all the same. "You're my one good thing Seth." And as the realization leaves my lips, the pain that has held me prisoner since that night lessens. Not to the point of complete absence mind you, the memory like all turning points will always linger, but now I have the power to associate some good with it.

Seth leans his head on my shoulder and looks at me with his big, brown eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

"That I'm glad that I got to meet you, but I am even happier that you decided to be my friend. You've given me a gift that no one else could have given but you."

"It's very easy to change a flower. Everyone can do it."

"I'm not talking about the flower."

He crinkles his forehead in thought. "Oh, I get it."

"Good," I smile.

A shadow falls over us. "Your dad wants to see you Seth."

"Why?" He asks suspiciously turning away from my shoulder to look Lena dead in the eyes with a threatening intensity.

"I don't know."

"How could you not when you're going around causing trouble for me?"

"Did Liz tell you that?"

"Have I done something to offend you, or is there some kind of initiation that requires Antarian woman to come down here and give me grief?" I demand standing up.

Seth scoots quickly in front of me.

"So you admit that you have a hostility toward Antarians?" Lena asks.

"You came down here to talk to me, not Liz." Seth tells her.

"Are you that afraid of what she might say Seth, or are your more afraid of what she might do?" Lena asks.

"Why are you being this way? You're the one that told me if I gave up a little piece of daddy, I would gets lots of something more just like the way you did with Yvonne."

"Because you might be getting something that I didn't intend for you." She answers.

"YOU'RE WRONG!" He screams at the top of his lungs. The ground begins to shake.

I grab Seth from behind rather fearful that he intends to pounce on her.

He struggles against me. "She's wrong."

I give the 'she' in question my best death glare as I realize that there is a lot more than meets the eye here. "Tell me something. What would Yvonne think about this or even Larek for that matter? Upsetting a child to prove a point Miranda."

She doesn't dispute the name or my accusations.

"But your little plan only works if I go ballistic, it's about me being the bad guy not Seth. You might want to let it be known that I'm pulling my own strings now. I jump only when I deem it necessary."

Michael is the first to respond to Seth's screams. "What's going on? I thought I heard screaming."

"I'm sorry. I just got a little upset. Miranda doesn't believe in global warming." I run my fingers through Seth's disheveled hair. "Thinks it some kind of liberal plot," I press my head to Seth's. "We're going to go and see your daddy now."

"I can't go home." Seth whispers.

"He isn't sending you home."

"Because she wouldn't have tried to make you mad if he was," Seth adds.

"Bingo."

We both turn our head to look at the former Lena Cruz.

"Your nose is bleeding." Michael tells her before both their gazes shoot back to us.

"It must be the elevation." I answer.

"Yes, it's very high up here." Seth adds.


	32. Previously on Convergence

Hello everyone,

A reviewer suggested that the story might need some cliff notes, since it's been like two years.

So here's a little update before you start reading.

* * *

1. Liz works for the CDC and is in Mexico because a rare alien virus engineered by Khivar has been striking down the population. Once there, she is reunited with Max. {Sigh} But alas, there are problems.

2. Max is infected with a weaker strand of the virus, but it still makes him weak from time to time.

3. Max's brain was royally screwed with during his imprisonment on Antar. The torture destroyed the connection that kept Zan's personality separate and asleep so now he is free to come out and be an ass.

4. Khivar is actively chasing Liz around because he wants to put a bun in her oven and I'm not talking about baking bread either.

5. Kyle has been kidnapped by Khivar.

6. The virus is carried by virus-human vehicles that look exactly like Alex.

7. Max refuses to kisses Liz.

8. Seth, Max's son, who has the power to see the future has seen Liz drown in an unknown body of water.

9. Liz at some point in the future will have a child that will succeed Max as king.

10. Liz and Seth are described by the Antarians as being broken.

11. Michael and Miranda (Lena) seem to be concerned about Liz's emotional state.

12. Liz has periods where she goes full Antarian and does not remember what she does afterwards.

13. When Seth was three, Max was forced to go away to get some help regarding some of the things that occured while he was in prison. During that time, Tess secretly befriended Seth by mind warping Michael. Seth was curious about Tess, because he had never had a mother. Tess then kidnapped Seth took him to Earth and visited the Crashdown. There she murdered Liz's parents and blew up the Crashdown. Liz was in a coma but somehow woke up. Max took over Brian's body a la Larek and helped her overcome her grief.

* * *

**Relationships**

1. Liz and Kyle were previously involved.

2. Hannah is Kyle's new girl friend.

3. Seth hates Tess.

4. Brian is Liz's boss and sort of boyfriend. She sort of fell in love with the Max part of Brian.

* * *

I hope that helps. Let me know if you need any more refreshers.


	33. Jealousy

Hello, I know that it's been a while, like two years.

I just wanted to say thanks for everyone that is still reading.

It's my New Year's Resolution to finish this.

Quotes taken from End of the World

* * *

Chapter Thirty One: Jealousy

By all accounts, I am anextremely level-headed person. Two years with a Buddhist and nearly decade in science has taught me that calm approach is the best medicine when confronted with a problem. Passion only serves to exacerbate the messiness of a conflict.

My mind at the moment is like a gentle breeze.

Miranda beating Seth and me to the punch to regale Max with stories of how I am distracting him from his school work in a last ditch attempt to separate us doesn't surprise me. Nor does the fact that Max is so transfixed by Miranda that he doesn't even register Seth or my presence. Opposition against me in the alien abyss is like gravity in the outside world. Eight years ago, it was about keeping me away from Max while now the focus seems to have shifted to that of his son.

Perhaps if I were looking on the situation from the outside, I'd see things from their point of view. A human girl in love with an alien and now casting herself as the protector of a child bore by a woman she plans to kill. Biology should have prevented the first and psychology the second. I can freely admit the oddity of the situation, but nature is filled with little oddities.

I handle the situation like any adult would.

I don't makea fuss as Max continues to be so absorbed with Miranda and so oblivious of me, because there's a regularity in even that. Years might have passed, but it's always the same. Sure his human side digs me a lot choosing to believe in Max's words of before, but there's another side to him that's never had much use for me. He was still attracted to Tess even when things were still good with us. I took it, because that's what good little girls with self-esteem issues do. They step aside for the greater good while never once asking for something in return.

I'm as good and as peaceful as I've ever been.

Until, I snap.

"Go away." The order issues from my lips. And remarkably enough, Ms. Tess 2.0 hightails it out of there in record speed.

And that's when things get interesting.

Too engrossed in gloating over besting finally one of these interfering Antarians, I fail to see the switch in Max to his less loveable counterpart Zan, but I get the message clear as day when a seemingly magical force pushes Seth from the room and slams the door behind him.

I flinch at the noise.

Suddenly, I'm aware that Zan is beside me.

Not a single sound betrayed his movement.

I try to back up only to find that he has trapped me between him and a large desk.

Zan stares me down with the help of Max's eyes. "If it comes down to it, I will crush you, have no doubt. I have not endured what I have endured to let you come along and throw everything into a tailspin."

Great, if I didn't have enough to deal with, I have to listen to someone threaten me using Max's voice to do it in. "Would you like to explain to me what has gotten your panties in such a wad**,** Zan?"

"I didn't give you permission to speak, human."

"I don't require your permission to do anything, Antarian."

Air rushes out of his nose in one angry puff.

I brace myself as his body moves to squash the distance between us, to no doubt begin the crushing process of yours truly, but at the last moment, he halts from his path in a single jerky movement. It bares none of the coordination that seems to be so characteristic of all Antarians. There's a moment of shock on his face before he drops his head. He lets out a shaky sigh.

Without thinking, I reach for him.

He shakes me off as if my touch burns.

I show him the palms of my hands in surrender. "Please, whatever it is. I'll do it. Just stop hurting him. He's been through enough."

"Stop hurting him." He repeats as if the mere thought is absurd. "I only wish that I could hurt him. Maybe, that would remind him who is in control here."

I look at him dumbly.

"Don't you get it? He's using my body against me. All so he can protect _you,_" he spits the word out with as much distaste as he can muster. "A walking abomination to the Antarian bloodline," he rails angrily.

"It figures that you'd be a fan of eugenics. You're just going to have to learn to deal with the fact that I'm part of your little club now _Zan_.""

"You can have all the special tricks in the world, but you will never be one of us. I make the decisions here, and you are not useful nor wanted. All you have to do is walk away. Max has been through enough. If you love him as you say that you do, I would think you would shy away from causing him even more immeasurable pain."

_Just twenty five minutes before I came here, I held Michael in my arms...dead. Isabel died two weeks before that. Now you have to do this. You have to find a way. All of our lives depend on it._

His words and his resemblance to Future Max trigger an overwhelming wave of déjà vu along with emotions that nearly suffocate me.

"No," the word escapes from my lips. If it is reference from my not so happy trip down memory lane or in response to Zan's bullying, I don't know. The point is that I get it out and don't cave despite Zan giving voice to the same insecurities of old.

"I know that I made mistakes, but things are different now. I'm older. I understand things now. I have powers. I'm not a liability like I was before." I fight back the tremor in my voice.

"Really, then how come the child saw your death then? What do you think your untimely demise will do to Max? Don't you think Max has been through enough," he adds softly using my words of before. "He abandons Seth, because of your death."

"He would never do that." I argue emphatically.

"I am sure Michael and Isabel thought the same thing up until the day Max risked exposing them all to heal you in the Crashdown. The proceeding years have only made him more self- destructive where _you_ are concerned. He simply cannot outlive you. If you do not stop meddling in Antarian matters, that is exactly what will happen."

"Timelines can change. I should know." A bitter laugh escapes my lips. "I know what you're trying to do. It's not going to work. This time it's going to be about what we want and no one else. "

"So you're trying for your happy ending," he chuckles darkly before dropping his voice to a low and albeit sensual murmer "I can assure you that it will be anything but. Max can't keep me out all the time." His hands encloses around my wrist. "Imagine for me coming home from a hard day of work," he begins as I vow not to imagine anything for him but still find myself doing it all the same. I pull against his hold. "You're tired. Your feet hurt. You drop your keys on the counter." The images and feelings in my head continue right along with his words. "You figure a shower might do you good. You wander the hall. Open the door to your bedroom only to find there is two shapes moving in your bed."

"Stop it!"

He drops his hold and shakes his hand as if I've burned him.

"I will flaunt every salacious detail of it right in front of your face. How long do you think you're going to be able to convince yourself that's it okay, because it isn't really Max doing them?"

I breathe in and out trying to still my churning emotions, but I am not too gone to realize that this is just another attempt to push me, to make me lose control**,** but it being instigated bya much stronger opponent than Miranda ever was.

I squeeze my hands together. There is so much light coming from my hands that you can make out the fine bones of my hands.

I swallow the lump back down my throat. "Did you know that I have always had a fascination for neurobiology?" Driven by some form of insanity, I close the space between us. "Your existence is a product of that." Without even being aware of it, the pads of my fingers find his cheek. I slide them once, twice over the scar etched into his skin expecting him to bolt, but he stays in place like some wild animal stunned into stillness. "So while you're fantasizing on how many women you're going to bang in my _bed_," my tongue snakes out to lick my bottom lip under his watchful gaze. "I want you to know I'll be fantasizing about performing a little exorcism. You're not around all the time. I don't think our mutual friend is all that fond of you to begin with." With the tips of my fingers, I angle his jaw so that he's looking straight at me. "So, you think long and hard before you start a war with me. You think Khivar has given you problems. Then you try me out Zan. I'll show you problems."

"I'm only here, because you made me," the warm air of his breath puffs onto my face. "I was always here, but Max being tortured day in and day out," he pauses**,** no doubt taking pleasure in my reaction, "gave me the stage that I needed to truly exert my influence. It was either embrace me or go insane. So thank you for your betrayal."

"Tess," I begin.

"Oh, but you got the ball rolling if I recall," he interrupts. "And now you're set on doing it again. Tell me, is it your logic to destroy Max so Seth will most certainly be retaken by his mother."

"Tess is not his mother!" Small sparks jump from my fingertips onto his chest.

"And what, you are?"

My shoulders sink for a beat before rising again. "No, but it doesn't mean that I don't love him." I stop reveling in the fit of the words, "because I do."

"Then leave Max," he says solemnly.

"No." I look away from his eyes.

He slides a strand of hair through his fingertips all the while locking me in with Max's gaze. "You know I've always been fascinated what beings will do in the so called name of love. My sister bore the devil his spawn and let him waltz right in to murder us all, because she was so in love." He sneers. "And Max," he rolls his eyes. "The geneticists made some serious miscalculations in that department."

"Perhaps, they thought the original version was lacking compassion."

His thumb pushes for a second against my pulse point. "You know the one thing that I hate above all else is artifice. You sprout some very beautiful sentiment about your great love for Max, but none of it is true. He means nothing to you. You've showed it again and again by your actions."

"_Baby, tell me what's wrong?" My mother pleads as she unsuccessfully tries to pry my sobbing body of__f__ the bathroom floor. _

"_We're done. We're actually done." My voice rises in pitch_

"_Did you and Kyle get in a fight?"_

"_No," I shake my head. "We definitely did not get into a fight." I start to laugh hysterically still feeling the memory of his hands along my thighs and the delicious things that happened afterwards. "I think I love him." _

"_That's not a reason to be crying Liz." _

"_But it is mommy, it is." _

"What's going on in there? Am I finally starting to get through that ape's mind of yours that this great love is all in your head?"

I push him away. He grabs my wrists in one of his large hands.

I start to struggle against him. "You don't know a single thing about me or what I feel."

" I know if you are so much in love with Max as you say you are. Then this," he runs his hand down from my neck down the sides of my breasts "shouldn't be affecting you so."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"I can smell you Elizabeth, and every time I touch you it gets stronger. So that great love that you claim to have seems to be only skin deep." His lips graze my throat before his head comes back up to face me. "Hmm, maybe, I've been looking at this all wrong, it appears it doesn't have to be another women in your bed. It could be just you and me. That would definitely do a number on him."

"You are disgusting."

"Then why aren't you running away?" He ducks his head and his open mouth traps my upper lip before releasing it into a kiss. "I do believe that would be the proper response. Squeezing your thighs together is just going to make it worse. I could most certainly make it better for you."

I push him back up against the wall. "Let's get one thing straight. You wouldn't know the first thing about making it better for me." The muscles of his stomach jump as my fingers run over them. "Zan**,** Zan," I lean into him and cluck my tongue against the back of my teeth. "Don't tell me that the human is getting to you? What would all of your friends think?" He pins me with Max's eyes, and it suddenly becomes all about his smell, his body, and how warm I could be if he could just get inside of me.

I close my eyes.

His hands are on my waist. With one strong tug, he eliminates the distance between us. My nipples peak against the warmth of his hard chest.

"Look at me." He growls.

I do it.

I am putty.

Twining my hands around his neck, I bring his face closer to my level. The green energy dances around his head almost like a halo. "God, you're so beautiful." He turns his scarred check in my direction as if in response. Pushing my tongue out between my lips, I place its against his skin before traveling the jagged line down the length of his cheek. When the line ends, I keep going until I reach the corner of his mouth. Stopping, I look up from underneath my lashes.

His Adam's apple bobs. It is a classic Max gesture.

"I love you so much. There will never be another you. Everyone else has always been second best." echoing the words that I should have told him and not another the night of Gomez.

His hand slides my shirt up until his palm stops just below my ribs.

The contact is too much and not enough.

"GOD!" I cry as a steady burn begins to sizzle inside of me. "There's so much color. It's everywhere." I watch as five distinctive blue particles zoom around my head. They collide onto the ceiling above us. The biggest slides into the center while the two smaller ones take up a position diagonal on either side. Their actions are repeated by the remaining two balls. Together, they create a perfect replica of Max's galaxy.

"I've damned you. I suspected, but now I know."

I blink momentarily thrown for those are not the words that I expected from him.

"You don't understand, yet?"

"Enlighten me."

"You need to leave and get as much distance from me as you can."

"I said enlighten me not to make overwrought demands."

"I'm a monster."

"Then we'll be monsters together."

He buries his nose in the skin of my neck. "I want you so bad."

"Then have me."

I expect him to go for my jeans' zipper. Instead, he angles my chin up. His eyes on my lip sends my giddiness into overdrive.

He lowers his head, and I can't believe after all my pressing this is finally happening. That it could be so easy.

My teeth press into my lower lip. There is so much energy coiling inside of me that it is getting difficult to handle.

He stops just millimeters from my mouth. "Tell me again, that I can take it all."

"Maxwell!"

Max's eyes turn black. My waist slips through his hands and seconds later my butt hits the floor. Dazed, it's Michael who helps me up. "I don't understand," I trail off when my eyes land on Max floating nearly a foot of the ground.

We were floating.

I can float.

There's the general mental hiccup of disbelief that comes with any new addition to my powers, but luckily, time has diminished the length of denial that so characterized my early years. Where it took months before to accept things, it now takes a matter of seconds before I'm back trying to work out my new ability's mechanics.

So I was floating and fell.

I frown.

Max let me fall.

Max wouldn't let me fall.

Blood seeps into my cheeks and the putty feeling of before is nowhere.

I cover the spot beneath my ribs feeling as if something extremely intimate has happened but with the wrong person. "Get down here n_ow_," I say interrupting the shit fit Max/Zan is throwing about Michael disrupting us and wondering if that's something he's picked up from his human woman. "I said get down here."

Suddenly, Zan plummets from the air onto the floor at my feet looking every bit confused.

"What did you do to me?

"Nothing you didn't ask for," he answers. "I guess loyalty does not really exist for your species. Your lack of gullibility is astounding."

"No, it wasn't you. It was him. I felt him there with me."

"You're so easy to manipulate. No wonder Tess had you wrapped around her little finger."

I flinch as if he's struck me.

"Liz," Michael offers. "Maybe it's time that you go."

I shake my head remembering Brian's observation that Antarians like to play rough. If I'm going to survive, I have to bury my insecurities about Tess once and for all. "Is he aware of what is going on when Zan's here?" I ask Michael.

"Why are you afraid you're going tohave some explaining to do when Max comes back?" Zan quips having stretched out on the carpet like some lion buying his time till he can pounce.

"There's disorientation involved sometimes for him. We really don't talk about Zan much." Michael answers**,** ignoring Zan's comment all together.

"Yes, it's amazing what a conversational stopper guilt can be. Poor Max was in that hole for nearly two years while his second was free to move around and have a great old time."

"I was not having a great old time." He says between gritted teeth.

"So what exactly were you doing while they were torturing Max**,** quite innovately might I add? Ah, yes, sitting at Khivar's right hand side and getting fat off mansef."

"It was impossible to get into the prison. I had to make contacts and find out who could be trusted before we could act." Michael's tone shakes toward the end.

"Michael, you don't have to justify anything to him. If you need to talk wait…"

"I don't need to talk to Max about it." He interrupts.

"Michael doesn't believe in apologies. He's very much like Rath that way."

"I'm not anything like him!"

"You reek with his incompetence. You couldn't even keep track of one little boy."

"Stop it right now, Zan."

I have no idea if it's the tone of my voice or the fact that I'm five seconds from blasting him to oblivion, but he sits up from his position on the floor.

We engage in an old fashioned stare off.

He breaks eye contact first.

In the wild, I would be deemed the victor.

In the alien abyss, it's anyone's guess.

"Why are you here**,** Michael?" He asks sullenly**,** rubbing his chin as if someone has punched him.

"There have been some new developments. Our response must be decided by you. It is after all why you have the priciest headwear in the galaxy. "

"Can he decide things when he's like this?" I question.

"Why? Do you feel that it is your right to do the deciding?" Zan sounds from behind me. My eyes flick to the carpet to find his spot now vacant. "I am the king here." His voice is low and threatening.

I try my best not to let it get me. Throwing my head over my shoulder, I say. "In the immortal words of Bart Simpson 'duh'."

I hear Michael snicker.

Zan's response is a little more unorthodox.

I feel one of his arms wrap around my waist.

:"What are you trying to do to her?" Michael demands.

"Leave now," Zan orders, and Michael dutifully obeys.

"You know**,** that has to be my favorite ability. It's so good to be the king." Zan mutters as he manhandles me over the couch's arm and pushes me onto the cushions with his body.

I began immediately trying to launch my defense.

Nothing happens.

"Right now your heart is overriding your brain." Zan explains. "You see Max, not an enemy."

"He won't let you hurt me."

"Your confidence in Max will be your undoing. He's the interloper in all of this**,** not me."

"You had your chance and blew it. Now, let him have his."

"Let us agree to disagree on that point. Now where were we before we were rudely interrupted. Ah yes," he goes for my shirt. I try and kick him. He holds my legs down. I twist and turn against his hands as they push my shirt up. "You have something of mine, and I want it back. The pain involved in the procedure is up to you. So I hope for your sake, you will not fight me."

One lone spark jumps from my skin.

I just need a little more time.

"Well, I guess you can't have everything." He answers.

He lowers his head, and it dawns on me that he really means to kiss me. I turn my head away from him while marveling about the perversity of the situation of having to deny something that under different circumstances I would have definitely reciprocated.

He grabs my chin and turns it roughly back toward him.

"Please, don't do this." I search his eyes but find no signs of Max in his gaze. "I don't know what he gave me, but it's all I have left of him. I can't loose it." My fingers are drumming crazily at my side.

"Nothing lasts forever Elizabeth."

His lips are about to connect to mine when somehow one little word makes it out.

"Max," it's the faintest of sounds that would have gone unnoticed by human ears, but he isn't human.

He stops in his path and wipes the stream of blood that now flows from my nose.

"Fight him," I take a deep breath. "Max," the decibel of my voice is louder and the amount of blood is greater. "I can't do it by myself. I need you Max." I wince realizing that someone has worked me over with some really serious alien voodoo,

"Mm," I get out before Zan covers his hand over my mouth. "You keep doing that and you are going to give yourself a serious aneurism."

I am bereft as I realize that I got his name out, and it didn't do a damn thing.

Again, weare outnumbered and outplayed. There is always going to be someone in our way. This one is going to be ten times harder to shake than Tess ever was.

"You're a little too old to believe in fairy tales, don't you think." Zan mocks**,** somehow picking up on my despair. "Now let's get this over with." He lowers his head and is just brushing my lips with his own when a whirling sound of a blast cuts through the air followed by the crash of impact.

He snaps away from me. I notice the football-sized hole in the wall before I see Seth standing in the doorway. His eyes are completely red and hair is standing up on edge making him look like an angry gremlin. He is seconds from losing it in a very big way.

"Seth, it's okay sweetie. Everything is going to be fine."

"No," he laughs a laugh with no humor behind it. "My sister is gone. I have no future. Antar has no future. She disappeared**.** It's your fault." He points an accusing finger at Zan. "If I can't have my sister, you can't have my daddy anymore."

The floor begins to rumble.

"Seth, do you remember the talk we had about your daddy needing me**,** that he couldn't survive without me." Zan offers**,** in what could be considered somewhat pleasant for him.

"I don't believe you any more. If you wanted to help daddy, you wouldn't have made my sister disappear." Seth's eyes settle on me and what's rest of his human features contort into something utterly scary. "You made Liz bleed." He hisses. The air around his body begins to shimmer like the desert in the peak of summer.

"It wasn't him. I think it was someone else."

"Who?" He demands**,** using an interesting alien acoustic trick that causes his voice to echo back and forth throughout the room.

"I don't know." I answer**,** choosing to play dumb despite there only being one possible candidate. I interrupt him as he starts to form her name. "It doesn't matter. The point is I broke through it. She didn't win."

"But she has, they all have." A big fat tear drops down his cheek. He wipes it savagely to his fingers. "What is this?" He asks studying the water with a horrified expression on his face.

"They're tears. You're sad. Humans cry when they're sad." I tell him.

"I'm not human." He gnashes his teeth together.

"You're not." I answer**,** deciding this is definitely not the time to explain the finer aspects of his genetics to him. I shoot a glare to Zan as his hand coils around my wrist stopping me from moving away from him toward Seth.

"Let go of Liz," Seth spits. "You can't tell humans what to do. It's very rude to even try."

Curiously enough, Zan does something quite unusual. He complies.

I move to wrap my arms around Seth but am left speechless when he moves out of my embrace. "Okay, I won't touch you if you don't won't to be touched."

"You can't right now. I like you as a human too much." Seth answers turning his attention to Zan. "She makes a good human Zan." His voice grows angrier. "She's going to be a human forever and ever."

"What are you talking about?" I ask him, but my question falls on death ears, because Seth seems to be engaging in a little dominance match of his own. "Gimme my daddy back right now."

"You don't get to control this." Zan answer coolly. "I'm the king."

"My God," I roll my eyes. "Are you for real? It's hard to believe you ever passed puberty. You've got the mental capacity of a three year old. Seriously, grow up already." I stop in my rant as I notice both pairs of eyes on me. "Carry on posturing boys, but keep it clean." I gesture to the couch. "I'm going to sit down."

"Order him to give daddy back." Seth answers as a smug smile spreads across his lips.

"What?" From the corner of my eye, I see Zan's form begin to blur**,** prepping himself for what I know will appear to be single flash of movement from one point to another to my mammalian eye.

He appears seemingly out of nowhere in front of me. "I'm the king." He growls with his claw like hands reaching for me with some unholy purpose in mind. However, they never meet their destination as a small body appears in the space between us. It quickly and effectively sends Zan flying into the back wall.

Take that bastard, but my euphoria is short lived as I notice that Zan is staring back at us with triumph instead of anger.

The sound of footfalls sounds gradually getting louder before we find ourselves surrounded by a group of beings that could give the Incredible Hulk a run for his money.

Zan says something in Antarian before dropping his head in a display of feigned emotion.

. "What did he just tell him?"

"To send us to jail for trying to kill him. He wants to send us to Tantalus." Seth translates.

I throw up a force field as Seth darts behind me "Don't hurt them. The more you fight, the more he will be able to make us look like we're bad."

Fair enough.

"Tell them, there's been a mistake."

"I can't. They are his guards. They will do whatever he tells them. Daddy said they were free to do whatever they wanted, but they wouldn't leave. They like not having minds." "

Naturally.

Zan wails something from his perch.

"Why are you doing this?" I answer as the guards begin to circle around us.

"A ship can only have one captain my dear. As it is, this ship is a little too crowded to begin with." Zan answers cryptically.

"Order them to stop." Seth mummers from behind me.

"What?"

"Do it."

"Stop," I tell the guards as the circle around us begins to shrink.

"Use your power," Seth insists. "You have to believe that they will obey you. You're uh, I don't know the word in English. You're the boss like my dad, but a lady," he finally explains.

Like your dad, but a lady.

A lady boss.

My stomach does a flip-flop.

Zan told Michael to leave, and he left then proceeded to tell me that's what king**s** do.

I told Miranda to leave, and she left.

"The word is queen, isn't it, Seth?" I ask just as a fist breaks through the force field.

* * *

I almost have the next chapter done. Shocked, so am I.


	34. It Isn't Easy Being Green

I just want to thank everyone for taking the time to leave a review. It really does keeping me writing.

As for who Seth is, it will be answered.

As for Brian=Max, you are correct. For a time, Max was using Brian's body like Larek was using Brody's.

I just want to thank you all for your responses. It keeps me writing. I also want to warn you that there is an implied but not explicit loyalist afterglow scene. Please don't hate me. It does exist for a purpose. I can promise you that the next love scene is a) going to feature everyone's favorite dark haired mystery man from an exotic location and ain't going to be so pg rated either.

For me, the first part about this story is about how Liz discovers who she used to be and part of that is her reflection on how she became who she is now. Kyle did contribute a lot to that so please don't lose faith in me. Can you tell I'm a little nervous about this chapter's reception?

Chapter Title taken from Kermit who I believe is owned by Jim Henson.

Chapter Thirty Two: It's Not Easy Being Green

John Donne once wrote "No man is an island."

His quote ceased to be applicable on September 4, 2001 for that was the date that Liz Parker became a species of one and a law onto herself.

When the first signs of my new alien powers made themselves known, my id kicked my super ego out of the driver's seat. In layman's terms, I freaked the hell out.

It was if my cool and collective demeanor had died with Alex or had hopped the Granolith Express with my former high school sweetheart and his baby mama.

Yes, that was a rather interesting year in the life of one Liz Parker. It was the year that horrible moniker Perfect Parker ceased and rumors that I had lost my mind over Alex and Max's deaths began their rotation, but theirs was not the only death I was grieving.

_With shaking hands, I place my blood sample beneath the microscope's platform. _

_Wetting my lips, I place my eye to the lens. _

I was dead, gone, not me, was the message my blood cells related and the spontaneous combustion of my microscope served as the exclamation point.

Afterwards, I became restless**,** pushing things to the limit while telling myself that this was the most humanist of human responses to waking up one day finding that I had acquired otherworldly powers.

There was reason after all that every culture had their own myths about people forgetting themselves in the euphoria of power.

My powers made me _stronger_ by making the impossible possible.

My powers made me _weaker_ by making the impossible possible.

It was only in the dead of night, locked safely away from the human world, that I would ponder a more disturbing alternative that my outbursts had nothing to do with being human and everything to do with something new, foreign, and alien growing inside of me.

Set adrift from anyone who could possibly understand or let alone teach me, I began to picture myself as some feral child stumbling around and acting out when the situation arose, and during that first year, it arose a lot.

"_Smile Liz, it isn't like we're going to the Spanish Inquisition." Kyle answers easing his Mustang into the parking place. _

"_No, it's just high school." I snort staring at the brick building and half dead trees clinging bravely to life in the face of one of the worst droughts ever. _

"_Come on, it's the first day of our senior year." _

_I flip my attention back to his face. "Ra, Ra." I half- heartedly chant. _

"_Well, I guess that's going to have to do." _

"_It's all you're getting out of me.__,__" I answer sliding out of his car. _

"_You're feeling okay, really?" He ask__s__, his blue eyes now serious, appraise me over the top of his car. _

_I purse my lips together. "So this is why you offered to drive me today? So you can quiz me on my mental health?" I struggle to keep the tremor out of my voice before taking off across the parking lot. _

_Kyle easily catches me up. "Liz," he grabs me by the arm and pulls me around the side of the building. "Something is not right with you, and it has a lot more to do than Max." _

"_Do not say his name." I warn. _

_From across the lot, a series of car alarms go off despite no __one __being near the parked cars. _

"_You can talk to me." _

_Talk to him, tell him that his body is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off that in the very near future that he could possibly be joining my merry little band of one. No, he would not spend his last months like that if I could help it ."Why are you making a shit fit out of me being drunk and making out with Sean?"_

"_It looked like you were doing a little more than just making out." _

"_What business of it is yours?" _

_Kyle takes a long cleansing breath. "When my mom left my dad he self imploded. I just don't want to see that happen to you." _

_I swallow. _

"_I care about what happens to you." He says simply. _

"_Okay," I nod shakily __,__remembering just how dependable and loyal Kyle could be if you let him. My cheeks color in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for being such a colossal bitch. I just feel so empty."_

_He glances over my head for a second before coming back to me. "I feel the same way sometimes. It's like someone has sucked all the air out of my lungs." _

_My eyes widen, surprised that he has just described perfectly the way I feel knowing that Max and I will never be anything to each other ever again. "I didn't realize that you and," I pause to let a deep gulp of air into my lungs, "Tess were so close." _

"_She was like a sister to me." _

"_A sister?" I'm about to tell him that what he's describing seems a little more intense, but decide better of it. If thinking of Tess as a sister helps Kyle get through things, who am I to take that away from him? _

"_Um, Liz, you have some fuzz in your," he points to my hair. _

_I reach up to try and pull the offending piece of fuzz out._

"_No to the left, can I?"_

"_Yes." _

_Very gently, his fingers slide down the strand of my hair. I watch haunted as he deposits the fuzz on the ground. _

"_What is it?"_

"_I was just remembering," another time, another place with another boy. I bite down on my bottom lip._

"_I got to go. Coach has us running laps this morning. Don't be pissed at me Liz?"_

"_I'm not Kyle." I say__,__ playing with my necklace's chain. _

"_Cool," he answers. It is only after he walks away that I notice my jewelry selection for the day. "Hell," I mutter__,__ wondering how I could be so out of it as to have put on Max's necklace. I finger the design lost in my own thoughts. _

"_I just wanted to make sure you were okay." I look up to find none other than Pam Troy invading my personal space, "with Max being dead, but it seems that Kyle has that covered." She smirks. _

"_Get. Away. From. Me." _

"_God, you're such a psycho." She says absurdly aloud so the rest of the students mulling around can hear her. "I was just trying to be a friend. I can't help it if Max left you for someone who actually did not have a body like a twelve year old boy." _

_I do not turn around__,__ instead heading for the library. Browsing the stacks, I settle on a __Call of the Wild__. I open the book up and begin to read while waiting for the first bell to ring. _

"_Miss. Parker, I don't think starting your first day off by skipping class is the best way to go." Mrs. Trayler, the librarian voice says rousing me from the first page. _

"_I'm not skipping. There's still forty five minutes until school starts," my voice trails off as I eye the clock. _

"_Miss. Parker, is something wrong?"_

_I wet my dry lips. "Time just got away from me. Please don't report me. I've just been distracted lately." _

_Her face turns suddenly sympathetic. "I'll write you a pass. There's a grief counselor here today if you want to talk about Mr. Evans." _

_I fight the urge to shout 'no' from the rooftops. "I'm fine." I answer taking the pass from her and somehow make it to my lunch period without incident. _

_Sitting down next to Kyle and Maria, I look through windows to see the red and blue lights of a police car and an ambulance. _

"_Did you hear that karma made a visit to the bitch today?" Maria asks. _

_I tear my attention from the window. "What?"_

"_Pam Troy fell down on the quad this morning." Kyle translates. "Apparently, she tripped over her own feet or something." _

"_Is she okay?"_

"_According to Laura, she sprained her ankle, and it's really bad." Maria stabs at her salad. "She's devastated, because she won't be able to cheer. Blah, blah, blah. She got into such hysterics over the entire thing they had to call the EMT's. Plus, her pricey little sports car that daddy got her is toast."_

"_It's like acid rain fell on the hood and back of her car. It's the strangest thing. Pauley and John are outside taking pictures with it right now." Kyle adds. _

_I sit back in my chair. "Oh." _

"_I tell you that the Wicked Witch of West Roswell High just had the worst day ever and all you have to say is 'oh.' Liz, you really are a saint."_

"_Hardly," I answer grimly. _

Was it coincidence or was it my powers at work somehow?

When Kyle finally came into the fold, he rallied against any idea of me being an evil human alien hybrid bent on world domination.

"_You don't remember doing it, so __it __means it wasn't you." _

"_Not remembering, doesn't let me off the hook?"_

"_It doesn't give you an excuse to torture yourself either. She fell and sprained her ankle. She missed like half the season." _

"_But she didn't fall." _

"_You didn't beat Pam Troy up Liz." _

"_How can you be so sure?"_

I would love to say that Kyle struggled as much as I did with his new found abilities, but that was not the case. Where my energy burned and seethed from within, his was of far more calmer variety. Naturally enough, he became the leader of our two member tribe.

"_Maria's poor face, she has to stop looking for Michael in these unstable artist types. _

_Something has to be done about that bastard." I throw my purse down angrily on to the floor. _

"_The cops are handling it." Kyle's eyes fall on my sparkling hands "Liz, breathe."_

"_I don't want to breathe. Why can't we handle this?"_

"_Because we're college students __,__not vigilantes." _

"_He broke her nose." _

"_I know," he grinds out. _

"_He's just going to cop a plea or daddy will get him off." _

"_Liz," he warns. _

"_It could be so easy to send him a warning. No one could ever link us to it." _

"_That's not even funny." _

"_Who says I was trying to be funny?" _

"_Why don't you go and take a bath? You know how that calms you down." _

_I eye the door. _

"_Don't even think about it, you know I'm faster." _

"_But I blast harder. You can't keep me in here if I don't want to be." _

"_Then I just need to make sure that you want to be in here then." Without warning, he seizes me in his arms. His mouth comes crashing down on my own as the need to off Maria's boyfriend is replaced by an entirely different one. _

_Sometime later when we are both naked, sweaty and sated, I find myself staring up at the ceiling finding all of my aggression spent. "I feel like a pervert. I was ready to kill Maria's boyfriend and now I'm not." _

"_What can I say? I'm just that good." _

"_Kyle, seriously?"_

_He mock frowns. "You mean I'm not that good?" _

_I smack him playfully on the shoulder before snuggling up to his side. _

"_Nothing is wrong with you Liz." _

"_I don't see you losing it all the time." _

_He shrugs his shoulders. "Experience has taught us that there are different people and different Antarian hybrids. So why not should there be differences in whatever we are?"_

"_I guess, but that still makes me the more psychotic." _

"_You're merely the more powerful one." _

_I lift my head. "How can you say that when you can do so many more things than I can do?"_

"_It's not the quantity but the quality. It's just something I feel. You sizzle with power. It's all around you. It just keeps building and building. It's like it's waiting for something or someone." _

"_Well, feel free to indulge anytime you want." _

"_I can't hold onto it, which makes me think it's not mine for the holding." He slides a strand of hair behind my ear. "I just wish that you could see yourself truly. See how magnificently regal you are, you have power, and I'm not talking about the blasting things to Kingdom Come variety either. Sometimes when you look at me, shit. You can bring people to their knees with that look." _

"_That's just your love for me." I answer in my best saccharine tone._

"_We being different make sense when you think about it. I was just some sorry putz to Max but you…. Hey, where are you going?"_

"_Bathroom." _

I look up from where both my hands are pressed into the small bump of someone's stomach. My eyes move up over a pair of breasts until they rest on Hannah's face.

In my ears, the strong beat of her baby's heart plays.

I have no clue as to how I got here, which means only one thing.

I've done something big and probably very bad with my powers.

Hannah is on her knees beside me now. Her pretty brow is knitted into a frown while her lips form words that don't compute. Her small dainty hand is poised just above my shoulder seemingly torn as to what is the proper decorum.

We are not friends.

"_Tell me, she's fat, ugly and stupid." _

"_She's fat, ugly, and stupid." Maria's voice sounds over my cell phone. _

"_What does she really look like?" I sigh. _

"_Liz." _

"_Maria," I counter. _

"_I want you to pinky promise that a, you won't blow anything up. B, you won't start macking on Sean, and C, you won't go generally ape shit again." _

"_I've grown up Maria. I'm different. It's like that song says. The first time is always the deepest."_

"_I didn't hear the words pinky or promise." She sing songs. _

"_I pinky promise." I roll my eyes. _

"_She's a pre law major. She's blonde and blue eyed." _

"_Of course, she is." A flash of lightening spurts out of my hands __and __collides into the wall. _

"_You better not be destroying anything." Maria hollers from across the line. _

"_It's lightening." I huff. " I bet the Sheriff is just heads over heels about the whole thing."_

"_It isn't like the Sheriff doesn't like you. He just thinks," Maria pauses. _

"_Thinks what?"_

"_That Max is going to come back someday, and you'd end up giving Kyle the boot." She says very quickly in one breath. "Liz?" She calls__,__ after I fail to respond in the proper tone._

"_I guess senility has finally caught up to him then." I answer__,__ studying the perfect handprints that I've burned into my dorm's wall._

"_I know, like you would ever take that ass back." _

_I bank my head lightly against the wall. "Kyle's happy, right?"_

"_From what I saw, yes." _

_With the wave of my hand, my prints disappear. "Good." _

I moan**,** propping my head against the back of the wall. My entire body feels

like I've been hit by a Mack truck.

It's then it hits me. This only happens when I've done something incredibly bad, but to whom have I done it to?

The palm of Hannah's hand comes down over my shoulder at the same time that I notice there is blood on both her shirt and mine.

MY GOD.

My response is immediate.

My body lurches back away from her with so much power that it smacks the wall.

From the corner of the room, I see Miranda push herself off the wall. Her long dark hair is now wrapped up in a bright blue cloth with the eye of medallion on it.

Something about that image sets my brain off on double time.

I am simultaneously aware that my hands still twinge with unused power**,** that I can no longer hear the baby's heartbeats**,** that beneath this very room Maria is demanding to know why Hannah of all people can be with me and not her, "Michael, they've had like two conversations together and both times she was an uber harpy toward Liz."

Still further away, I hear Seth's quiet whisperings in Antarian with the occasional English words " of daddy, Liz, sister and so sorry." I'm so caught up in my ease dropping that I'm startled when Miranda grabs me roughly by the arms.

A second later she finds herself on the floor subdued beneath me. "You" is all I get out as I am unable to understand how I could allow myself to be duped yet again by another Antarian bitch. She pushed and pushed me and finally set me over the edge with that stunt with Max and let me loose on Hannah and her baby. I vow to end her, but don't get very far in that endeavor in that one second after that I find myself beneath her with a knife to my throat.

"Calm, the hell down." She demands.

"Liz, what's wrong?" Hannah asks.

Tears are falling down my cheeks. "There is blood on your shirt. I was connecting to your baby."

Hannah looks utterly confused on how my two sentences fit together but Miranda finds the connection disturbingly fast. "There was a disagreement. You tried to stop it, but got hurt in the process. Hannah was helping you, and your blood got on her clothes. I fixed your injuries."

"I was connecting to her baby." I insist.

"Connections do not damage offspring. Without the intent," she adds as if somewhat as an afterthought.

I take her doubletalk to mean that had I been behaving like a psycho Alien bitch that she would have run me through with her very large knife. I give a shaky nod, and Miranda releases her knife from my neck.

I study my shoes deciding that this might in fact be some metaphorical version of hell being in the same room with my ex's new girlfriend and with a women who is just a tad bit possessive of Max for a mere casual acquaintance.

I smile grimly thinking things could be infinitely more worse.

Tess could be here.

I snicker and am aware of both women's concerned eyes on me. "What?" I arch my eyebrows at Hannah.

She releases her bottom lip from between her teeth. "You seem to be having rather strong mood swings."

"So, now you are concerned about my moods?" I snap voicing my anger over her past transgressions. I clinch my fist and watch as band after band of red energy circles around it. Can I really blame Hannah for protecting what was hers? My gaze falls on Miranda before turning back to her. "I'm sorry. I am not myself right now."

She shakes her head. "You're angry. I did things. I'm not proud of them. I pushed him to end your friendship." She trails off no doubt catching my icy glare.

I turn to Miranda to see if I can pull some information regarding how the hell I got here when little Ms. Lawyer opens her big stupid mouth.

"I was scared."

My neck literally snaps back to her. "You were scared?" I answer incredulously inching closer to her. "How about you try being the only one of two humans on the planet that you know of that has powers that you can't control? How about you try living with the knowledge that with one misstep you could end up as a science experiment in a government lab? Kyle was the onlyone that could understand that. You had him ignore me for a year, because you were _scared_." I'm nearly on top of her now and to her credit she doesn't cower when confronted with my rage.

"I didn't understand until it was too late. He wasn't himself the entire time. I thought about calling you to try and fix things, but I was too much of a coward, so I let him suffer. I almost threw up when he first came up to you at the wake. I was so nervous that you were going to reject his overture. It would have killed him."

"I had just lost my parents and nearly died. It kind of puts things into prospective. Life is too precious to spend it being pissed or insecure." I answer pointedly**,** realizing for the first time that it was more than just that at work that day.

Despite losing everything, there was peace to me that day that I had never felt.

I curl my hands remembering how I had held Brian's hand in a death grip the entire day.

He had never once complained about me treating him like an extra sized security blanket.

When everyone's condolences of ' " sorry" ' left me feeling empty and hollow, he found the words that I needed to hear by just being. Brian had found them, because he was Max. As Kyle had observed all those years ago, Max just knew when things came to me.

Yet, he isn't here now when I need him to tell me that there is still some sliver of hope for us.

I spear my fingers through my hair and tug on the strands trying to guess what is going through his head. The fact that I haven't been in his head in nearly a decade**,** coupled with our general lack of communication when it comes to anything tough makes it a challenge.

"I was so scared. Your abilities allow yourself to understand him in a way I will never be able to." Her voice is so quiet that had my cells not been little and green there would have been no way for me to hear her.

A potted plant on the windowsill takes the brunt of my anger.

I suck my lips together like a dying fish trying desperately to hold onto air, because her words are so heartbreakingly similar to the feelings that graced the pages of my journal, but I'll be damned if I am going to acknowledge that or where listening to those feelings got me aloud.

Hannah never did me any favors.

I get to the door and study it for a beat before realizing I'm not Tess Harding or even Future Max. People's insecurities aren't something to be manipulated no matter if the purpose is to save the world or satisfy vengeance.

"You're wrong about Kyle and me." I grind out through teeth that still have **not** been exactly won over to my new course of action. "What he felt for me pales in comparison to what he feels for you. Kyle loves you with everything that he is, because you love him with everything that you are. We weren't ever that intimate with each other, because he was waiting for you. I was just," I cover my eyes with my hands. "I was just waiting." I say softly.

The heat from my medallion shakes from the tendrils of sadness threatening to encircle my heart. I turn around to finally face her.

She is scrubbing her eyes wiping away her tears. "I would give anything for that to be true, but it isn't. He doesn't want me. He kissed her."

I shake my head against the memory of watching a boy and a girl kiss in the rain.

"Why did you not divulge this to Max in your debriefing?" Miranda demands.

Hannah's blue eyes turn to ice in response. "Because I don't really feel like telling the entire world that the father of my child has run off with someone who he has always claimed was just a sister to him."

"Hannah," I say. "Tess has an ability to put memories in people's head," choosing to argue the entire thing was a mind warp. "She likes to push people with it. Tess has the kind of personality that if you give her an inch she will take a mile. You have to be careful how you react to her."

"No, it was real." She is adamant. "For three days, they did nothing but ask him questions. He didn't give them anything then suddenly he's spilling his guts. She couldn't have fabricated his answers. Afterwards, when he had given them everything, that's when they kissed and were all over each other. God, I feel like such an idiot." Her bottom lips quivers.

I crouch down so that I'm eye level with her. "I know that things look really bad right now, but you are going to have to believe. Believe, like you've never believed in anything your entire life. Believe, even though your heart, your eyes, and your brain tell you that you won't win. Believe, because if you stop, you've lost, and finding your way back to where you once were a second time around might prove impossible. There are just too many permutations to take anything for granted."

The slight breeze that rustles my hair is the only harbinger before Miranda makes like the Antarian roadrunner and crosses the room to be at my side. "Ask her what they got from Kyle," she says in a low tone that must be beneath human hearing from Hannah's lack of reaction. "You've gotten her to indentify with you. She isn't going to tell anyone else. We need this." She presses, when I fail to act on her first command. "Tess could be making a play to retake Seth." She adds seemingly waving a red flag in my face.

I glare realizing that I might have vowed to be above using people's insecurities, but the people around me are certainty not.

"Hannah," I stumble over my words trying to find a coherent string of thought. "It's important that we figure out what they want from Kyle."

"I already told you. Tess couldn't keep her hands off of him, and he let her." She answers heatedly. "I'm sorry." She rubs her temples. "You're trying to help. Kyle always said that you had the biggest heart of anyone he ever knew." Her eyes begin to water with tears. "Anyone else would have been running for the hills when they found out aliens really do exist."

"Hannah," I say with a slight force trying to get her back on topic. "Do you remember anything about the questions they asked? It's okay if you don't."

She shrugs her shoulders. "Khivar was curious about your powers, how you controlled them, and how Kyle was able to use them for himself." She rattles off in a monotone. "When Kyle said that he couldn't, Khivar became enraged. He grabbed Kyle by the neck and started yelling that couldn't be true, because Kyle had fucked you. Those were his words not mine. They gave him another injection and another. His eyes turned white and lips turned upwards into a scowl. He lunged at me once." She covers her mouth with her hand.

From the corner of my eye, I watch as a spasm cross Miranda's usually stoic features. My newly attuned hearing picks up a sudden rise in her heartbeat while the sheen of sweat breaks out on her brow.

Though my time with Max was relatively short, I had picked up certain key tidbits about Antarian biology. One being that he was imperious to temperature change. It mattered very little if it was 36 degrees outside or 97 degrees. There was no need for the contraction of blood vessels to maintain warmth or sweat to regulate body temperature. Sweat was only something he did in the throes of his illness or when running from a patrol of government agents.

"I thought he was going to kill me." She says just above a hoarse whisper. "He actually wants me dead." She shakes her head.

Miranda takes hold of Hannah's hand tenderly in an uncharacteristic human gesture and beats me in my defense of Kyle. "Whatever Kyle may have done, you need to remember that it wasn't him. It was the drugs and Tess. He is as much a victim in this as you are."

"He's a victim." Hannah nods. "I understand completely. It makes so much more sense now that it has been explained to me."

Could someone please tell me what I've been doing for the last ten minutes?

"Good." Miranda turns to me. "Get her back on topic."

Suddenly, it dawns on me. "You're screwing with her mind. "

"On topic Liz."

"Stop screwing with her mind Miranda if that's even your real name."

"You don't even like her."

"That's irrelevant. Get out of her head."

"We need this information. They're going to be sending Kyle after you. His anger toward her was just a warm up of what he will become."

I study for her a second unsure whether she is serious or not. "How do you know this?"

"Because I know how Khivar works. Seventy-five years ago, he was somewhat honorable then he wasn't. He doesn't understand what happened and thinks if he can observe the actual decline in practice he'll get closer to an answer. He developed a serum that strips higher level thinking from sentient beings and leaves only the baser instincts in tact. He's begun that treatment with Kyle."

"You can fix it, right?"

Her black eyes shift to the right as if remembering a memory. "No one has ever been successful in isolating a research subject away from Khivar. I do know that the end of the procedure culminates in the subject trying to eliminate the person most important to him or her. Khivar miscalculated with Kyle and believed that person was you.

"We aren't even together."

"It doesn't matter. He was the only male of Antarian origin that you were ever…" she trails off.

"Great, is there anything else you don't know about me?" My cheeks redden.

"Privacy is not an Antarian concept." She answers before returning to Khivar. "He is a scientist not a romantic, to him sex equals commitment and cementation. He believed Kyle was the one. They would send him to you. You would dispatch him. It would drive the Antarian parts within you insane then you would be more pliable to Khivar's wishes."

"What will he do now?"

"I prefer not to engage in mindless speculation."

"Engage in it," I challenge.

"Kyle can still be used to lure you out. I am worried about what his reaction will be to you. It sounds as if Khivar has created a lackey that he has minimal control over at best. This could result in you having to dispatch him."

"I'm not killing him."

"Would you rather he kill you and Max go insane? We can accept when things beyond our control take our mates, but by the hands of others, no. Vengeance is very much one of our beliefs. Max held himself back when they attacked you, because you lived. If you were to die," she trails off ominously.

"He would hold himself to the rule of law that he has established."

"If you prefer to think of him to be the lamb over the lion so be it, but your belief has no basis in reality."

"I'm just supposed to believe you, because you know him so well." I answer hotly drumming my fingers against the floor.

She regards my fingers for a moment. "You would do well to hide your insecurity better. It could be used against you."

"I am not insecure. You can't get any more secure than I am. I'm like the Pentagon in my security."

"Then the sudden source of your ire is jealousy, perhaps?" She asks without missing a beat.

I don't flinch.

I don't blow anything up.

I just stare at her coldly. "For someone who was raised by a human, you are an extremely unkind individual. Maybe, you were with him, and maybe you weren't, but it's irrelevant.

He wants me. He's chosen me."

"Exactly," she answers with an expression that could be deemed almost hopeful. "I'm glad that when push comes to shove you are able to see that for yourself. The fewer distractions you have the better." She tears her vision away from me and back to Hannah.

Her comments confuse me, because they are not of the jilted romantic rival but of the advisory sort, but Tess was also all about the advise in the beginning.

"With your permission, I would like to return to the interview?" she presses, causing me both to remember Hannah and what started this conversation in the first place. Briefly, I wonder if I could possibly be under her influence as well.

"Right," I press my lips together before releasing them. "Get out of Hannah's head then," opting this time for an explanation to my request. "This mind stuff all of you do makes me nervous. So for once could you just do what I ask?"

"Fine," Miranda says before treating me to a bitchy sigh that sounds quite reminiscent of Isabel.

Hannah starts. "What were we talking about again?"

"About Kyle and the questions that Khivar asked him."

"Yes," she nods. "They wanted to know who helped you get better after your parents' death."

"Whose names did he give?"

"It's not like he was able to give him much, because you guys weren't…"

"The names," I interrupt.

"Maria, Sean, and the two French sisters from the wake.

"Elle and Sherrie," I swallow.

"Yes, and Brian."

I see nothing but blackness for a moment.

"He was much more interested in the men than the women."

I watch as my hands begin to blur in front of me. Suddenly, I'm moving. My legs are unaccustomed to the energy pulsating through them feeling as if they are amped up on PCP. Scraps of color wiz pass my eyes too quickly for me to process.

Then just as quickly as whatever this is begins, it ends with my knees giving away.

I flinch, preparing myself for an impact that never comes thanks to a pair of arms that catch me around my waist.

"Whoa, Nelly." Brian answers letting go of my waist. "I don't want you to bruise those lovely knees of yours."

"Sorry," I mumble embarrassed.

"That's some pretty fast moving you got going there. We definitely need to wrangle up a cheetah next time we're in Africa. You could really give it a run for its money."

"I must be starting to move like an Antarian. I just haven't figured out how exactly to stop." I reach in my pocket for some Antacids anticipating another bout of indigestion. "We need to talk." I grimace realizing too late how cliché my choice of words sound.

"Peachy," he mumbles motioning me to join him at the table.

I take a seat and pick up an iodine stain of the virus. "This doesn't look like the virus."

"It isn't. Miranda gave it to me as a side project until whatever happens with the virus starts happening. Apparently, the infection is cyclical. She has a friend who is infected with a different strain and thought some new eyes could prove beneficial."

"And did it?"

"No."

"Of course, not." I throw the picture down violently not particularly interested in looking at what is slowly killing Max.

"I just started Parker. I don't exactly have their stamina." He studies me, fuming for a moment. "Why do I get the idea that Miranda's friend is your friend as well?" His eyes light up in realization following his words.

I am out of my seat and crouching next to him in half a second. "Please, you can't tell anyone. If the general public were to find out."

"There would be anarchy." Brian adds.

"He's very good at what he does. There's stability on his planet for the first time in years. Please, Brian."

"And you believe this, because Max says it so?"

"Well, yeah." I answer confused.

"Without seeing it with your own eyes," He grimaces. "You're still in love with him."

My mouth forms a perfect "o" shape momentarily surprised in the turn of this conversation before I answer with a nod.

"Oh, Parker," he closes the distance between us to the point that mere inches separate our face. "From what Miranda gave me, it's not good."

"I don't care. I'm sorry that I told you that we could be something and then take it back. Up until two weeks ago, I thought he was in my past, but he won't ever be. I am physically unable to love anyone like I love him. I didn't understand that before, but I understand it now."

"Are you sure that it isn't just, because he's the one that got away?"

"It's not that. If I was to try and explain it all, you would think I was crazy."

He smiles sadly. "No, I think that would be you being in love."

"I'm so sorry." I cup his cheek.

"I think we really could have fun together."

I'm enough of a realist to acknowledge that loving Max is more uncertain than it ever was between Zan and all the history between us that hasn't yet become water under the bridge.

Loving Brian would definitely be the day to that night. I imagine that our life would be much like it is now. We would circle the globe fighting against disease and playing poker with the locals while getting drunk off some very bad moonshine. He would occasionally throw in a pitch about me getting my PhD.

Holidays would be spent at his parents' home on the Vineyard. There would be caroling, jokes and most of all family. When we would leave, his parents would give me the biggest hugs and just for one second I would pretend that my own parents were holding me.

One day, he would take me to my favorite Italian restaurant two blocks away from my apartment. Somewhere between lasagna and gelato he would get down on one knee and pull out a small velveteen box from his hand and say something corny like "Parker, will you merge your element with mine and form a compound," and open the box forcing me to say 'no.'

I would say 'no' to everyone but one.

"Fun maybe, but permanent no," I answer remembering Seth's prediction of Brian, me and the lipstick collar.

"Perhaps," he lets out a rush of air like a deflating balloon. "So now that you've told me why you felt compelled to break the barriers of speed and sound," he pauses no doubting catching the look on my face. "That wasn't it?" He asks incredulous.

"No. You see," I begin telling him of Khivar, the danger, my heartfelt apology while carefully glossing over the part where Max high-jacked his body.

I omit it, because I'm a manipulative and desperate coward and wonder if Brian would continue to look at Max's file if he was to find out.

It's hard to believe so many things have changed, but one thing has not.

I will screw everyone over to keep Max safe.

I wonder if that is still one more thing to chalk up to what being in love means.

The ring of Brian's cell provides the excuse for my escape.

Once outside, I close my eyes against the sudden breeze and just let my thoughts go.

When I finally open them again, Max is standing before me like a vision of my own private heaven and hell.

"We need to talk." He tells me.

"Peachy," I answer repeating Brian's words of before.


End file.
